The pollen of Solanum L. and its systematic significance

ABSTRACT

The morphology of 75 different pollen grains from 67 species of genus Solanum L., two species of genus Cyphomandra Sendt., and six species of genus Lycianthes (Dunal) Hassl. was studied using light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Among them, the pollen of 66 species is described for the first time. Our results suggest that the sexine ornamention of Solanum, Cyphomandra and Lycianthes is extremely similar, but the apertures of genus Solanum and Cyphomandra are not syncolpate while those of genus Lycianthes are syncolpate. Overall, we argued that the Solanum species studied demonstrated sufficient pollinic heterogeneity in their shapes, aperture feature and sexine ornamentation to enable their palynological characterisation and support the point of view that the genus Cyphomandra should be merged into Solanum, but Lycianthes should be an independent genus from the aspect of palynology.

KEYWORDS:

• Solanum
• Cyphomandra
• Lycianthes
• pollen morphology

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under [grant numbers 31270276 and 30470106] and the Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University under [grant number IRT-17R75].

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tiantian Du

TIANTIAN DU graduated with a BSc in biological sciences from the College of Life Sciences of Shanxi Datong University. She is studying for an MSc in botany in the College of Life Sciences, Capital Normal University. She specialises in the palynology and taxonomy of the Solanaceae.

Chunhai Zhao

CHUNHAI ZHAO received his BSc and MSc in botany from the College of Life Sciences of Capital Normal University. He specialises in the palynology of the modern floras of several Chinese ecosystems.

Jiaxi Liu

JIAXI LIU is a professor in the College of Life Sciences, Capital Normal University, Beijing, China. He received his BSc and MSc in botany from Harbin Normal University, Heilongjiang, China, and his PhD in ecology from Northeast Forestry University, Heilongjiang, China. He researches the palynology and embryology of the modern floras of several Chinese ecosystems.