An account of morphological and structural characterization of American mimosoideae pollen. Part I: Tribe acacieae

Abstract

The results of a pollen study of 77 American species of Acacia (tribe Acaciae) characterizes pollen among the different New World taxa of the compound‐pollen Mimosoideae on the basis of the most relevant morphologic and structural features.

Two pollen types and five subtypes are recognized and summarized in the diagnostic key presented herein. As a result of the species studied, some newly observed structural features are now utilized; these features modify the previous characterization of the pollen of Acacia, and include frequent ornamentation of the suprasubreticulate or supramicrorugulate exine, presence of subpseudocolpi in some species, and presence of a bistratified granular infractectal layer in the subgenus Aculeiferum but not in the section Filicinae.