Pollen morphology of Arctostaphylos uva-ursi (Ericaceae) in North America

Abstract

Scanning electron micrographs of pollen tetrads obtained from North American populations of Arctostaphylos uva-ursi (L.) Spreng. are presented. Although variation within the species in tetrad size, aperturation, exine sculpturing, and grain distinctiveness is indicated, it is not correlated with the pubescence characters on which four commonly accepted infraspecific taxa have been based, and is otherwise considered to be of little taxonomic significance.