Preliminary studies about pollen morphological characteristics of pineaple [Ananas comosus (L.) Merril]

Abstract

Nowadays, the study of the pollen grains has reached great importance. The size, the countour, the number and position of the grooves; the number and position of apertures as well as details of the wall decoration, mainly of the exine, constitute the principal morphological characteristics of the pollen grains. Such elements thus provide aids to Plant Taxonomy mainly. The material used in the present work was obtained from the Limeira Experimental Station pineaple plant collection in Cordeirópolis, SP - Brasil. Our aim was to study comparatively the morphology of the pollen grains picked up from different species. We made use of two processes for the obtention of slides for microscope examination afterwards - the speed method and acetolysis method. We noted that most of the material examined on the microscope showed isolated and monopored pollen grains with reticulate exine besides lenthwise grooves and with predominantly ovate or spherical shapes. Although, we worked with material of different species there were no evident morphological differences among the examined pollen grains neither with the speed method (the non-acetolic method) nor with the acetolic method.