Pollen grain morphology of some indigenous and non- native species of genus Acer L. in Iran

In this study, morphology and pollen grain diversity of eight maple species including Acer negundo, A.palmatum, A.monsspesulanum, A.velutinum, A.cappadocicum, A.campestre, A.tanoide L, A.hyrcanum and a cultivar of A.negundo (A.negundo variegatum) were studied to examine their roles in this genus and to find the diagnostic attributes. The results showed that pollen grains of this genus are tricolpateand are of medium size, often heteropolar with no radial symmetry, and are classified in plicate class. Studying the quantitative traits by using one-way analysis of variance and cluster analysis showed a high inter-specific variations among the traits. In the principal component analysis, the distance of two pollen lengths from each another, the length of the equatorial diameter of the pollen grain, the window environment, and the window area were determined to separate the existing species. In order to test the accuracy of the analysis, the detection analysis was used, which confirmed up to 80% of the results of grouping of each species is based on the pollen attributes.