The importance of palynology in the taxonomy of genus Silene, based on pollen morphology

In this study، the palynology of 33 species of Silene belonging to 15 sections was investigated to examine the correspondence between palynology، morphological sections and phylogenetic trees. The pollen grains were prepared using the acetolysis method. Quantitative and qualitative micromorphological features of pollens were investigated using light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Differences in quantitative and qualitative pollen characters within sections were used to regroup species using a statistical hierarchical clustering method (average linkage). According to this classification، the species were divided into eight groups، some of which differed from morphological groupings، but had some similarities to previous phylogenetic studies.