Pollen morphology of Scabiosa L. and Lomelosia Raf. (Caprifoliaceae) taxa in Türkiye

: Pollen morphology of 34 taxa belonging to genera Scabiosa and Lomelosia were investigated using a light microscope (LM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Pollen grains of Scabiosa and Lomelosia taxa are tricolpate and triporate, respectively. Pollen shapes vary from oblate to prolate. The exine surface ornamentation can be divided into five types, namely echinate, echinate-microechinate, echinate-gemmate, echinate-microechinate/gemmate and microechinate-gemmate. Pollen grain sizes were classified as very large in three species of Lomelosia and large in the rest. Statistical analyses revealed some quantitative morphological features, such as equatorial axes, L (polar view amb), and t (apocolpium) as the primary characters for separating the examined taxa. The taxa were separated from each other by clustering analysis of selected pollen characters, and the investigated species were placed within two clusters. Present findings revealed that some Scabiosa species should be transferred to Lomelosia depending on palynological characters.