Pollen morphology of Ipomoea L. species from Garhwal Himalaya, India and its taxonomic implication

AbstractPollen morphology serves as a valuable tool for identification, phylogenetic analysis and evolutionary studies. The present study aims to investigate the pollen morphology of 12 species of the genus Ipomoea L. (a diverse and economically important genus within the family Convolvulaceae) from Garhwal Himalaya, India. Fresh flower buds were collected from the study area and pollen preparation was done using the acetolysis method. The morphology of the pollen grains was examined using light microscopy (LM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Pollen grains of all the studied species were apolar, spheroidal, pantoporate, subtectate with fine reticulation and echinate but they differed from one another in their size, number of spines and pores, spine length and spine types. The size of grains ranged from 53.3 μm to 128.7 μm. Cluster analysis was performed based on pollen characters to show the relationship among the species and a key was prepared and discussed. The observed variation in pollen morphological traits gives important taxonomic information that is useful for distinguishing Ipomoea species and establishing taxonomic and phylogenetic relationships.Keywords: IpomoeaPantoporateSpineSpheroidalCluster analysisDisclaimerAs a service to authors and researchers we are providing this version of an accepted manuscript (AM). Copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proofs will be undertaken on this manuscript before final publication of the Version of Record (VoR). During production and pre-press, errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal relate to these versions also.