Pollen micromorphological study of some Chenopodiaceae species and their taxonomical relationships in Iran

Pollen grains micromorphological characteristics in nine genera of Chenopodiaceae (Atriplex, Bassia, Bienertia, Chenopodium, Dysphania, Haloxylon, Kochia, Salsola, and Suaeda) that tolerate more difficult ecological conditions in Iran were examined by Light Microscopy (LM) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The obtained results showed that, the pollen grains quantitative and qualitative micromorphological characters were different in the studied species. A dendrogram obtained from the pollen grain characters in our research placed these taxa on two groups and three pollen types. Although, pollen group 1 had not taxonomical values. Pollen group 2 partly was in agreement with taxonomical level based on recently taxonomical and phylogenetic works including type A (Atriplex), type C (Chenopodium), and type D (Dysphania). Pore number had a major role to construct group 2. The number of echinate on pore membrane and on 10 μm2 area of exine had major roles in constructing of group 1. The other pollen grains characters were important for the delimitation of both groups.