A contribution to distinguishing cereal from wild grass pollen grains by LM and SEM

Abstract

Abstract SEM observations of 12 species of the genera Triticum, Hordeum, Avena, Secale, Panicum, Setaria, Bromus and Glyceria contribute to a better understanding of the exine sculpture and lead to the description of 4 types. No fundamentally new features were revealed and the scope of SEM may be limited to that context. A higher degree of reliability in the identification of the pollen types may be achieved if all available LM and SEM characters are combined and if the ecological differences of those wild grass species ranging within the pollen size of cereals are taken into consideration as an exclusive factor. Finally the existence of a taxonomic patterning of the exine sculpture is confirmed.