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Abstract
Pollen morphology of 15 species of the genus Lactuca L. (s. lat.) of the tribe Cichorieae from the Hindukush, Western Himalayan and Karakorum Ranges was studied using light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The pollen morphology of six speciesm viz. L. erostrata Bano & Qaiser, L. glaucifolia Boiss., L. persica Boiss., L. crambifolia (Bunge) Boiss., L. chitralensis (Tuisl.) Ghafoor, Qaiser & Roohi Bano and L. picridiformis Boiss., was never studied before. Pollen were found to be isopolar, spheroidal to oblate-spheroidal, elliptic to rarely circular in equatorial view, hexagonal in polar view, trizonocolporate and echinolophate with 15 lacunae. Morphometric analysis of the pollen characters was conducted using agglomerative cluster analysis with Euclidean distance and Ward’s method to compute the dissimilarity matrix, and a dendogram was prepared. Two pollen types, based primarily on the diameter of the polar and equatorial axes of the pollen grain, were recognized. Keys to the pollen types, subtypes and species are provided. The present palynological findings are to a great extent in agreement with the results of recent phylogenetic studies based on molecular evidence. Moreover, both the pollen types are well correlated with the general morphology of the investigated species of the genus Lactuca L. (s. lat) and provide additional micromorphological characters for the delimitation of the species.
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to the directors and curators of the BM, E, KUH, M and RAW herbaria for allowing us to take the polleniferous material for the present study. Special thanks also to Dr. Nobert Kilian (B) for his advice and for critically reading the manuscript.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Roohi Abid
ROOHI ABID obtained a master’s in botany and a PhD in plant taxonomy (botany) from the Department of Botany, University of Karachi, Pakistan. Currently, Abid is an assistant professor in the Centre of Plant Conservation (Herbarium and Botanical Garden), University of Karachi, Pakistan. Abid is mainly interested in researching all aspects of plant taxonomy and plant conservation, and has more than 10 years of research and teaching experience in the same field. Abid co-authored three volumes on the family Asteraceae and authored the volume on the family Cactaceae of the Flora of Pakistan.
Muhammad Qaiser
MUHAMMAD QAISER is one of the most eminent plant taxonomists of the country. He is well known for his contribution in plant sciences all over the world. He is the co-editor of Flora of Pakistan and played a pivotal role in finalizing this mamoth project of Flora of Pakistan. He has not only edited the Flora but also revised number of plant families including some larger families like Asteraceae, Polygonaceae and Rubiaceae. At present Prof. Qaiser is the Chief Editor of Pakistan Journal of Botany and associated with the Centre for Plant Conservation, University of Karachi. In addition to this, he also revised quite a few genera for Tropical Africa and Arabian Peninsula.