Identification of Three Medicinally Important Species of Family Asteraceae Based on Pollen Characters

Abstract

Present work was conducted to examine pollen characters of three medicinal species of family Asteraceae i.e., Helianthus annuus L., Sonchus arvensis L. and Tagetes erecta L. Pollen morphology was examined under light microscope, on the basis of polar & equatorial diameter, exine & intine thickness, spines, colpi and endopore. Pollen fertility was also estimated. All species showed great variation among pollen characters. Prolate spheroidal and sub spheroidal pollens were detected in these species. On the basis of spines, echinated and psilated pollens were observed while uni, bi, tri and tetracolpate pollens were observed on the basis of colpi. It was concluded that palynological study is a valuable taxonomic tool due to the presence of a number of variety among pollens.