Palynology of Family Asteraceae from Flora of Rawalpindi- Pakistan

Abstract

Present study was confined to pollen morphology and pollen fertility estimation used an aid in taxonomic description of 7 species of family Asteraceae from flora of Rawalpindi. The species are Ageratum conyzoides L., Calendula arvensis L., Cousinia minuta Boiss., Diagn., Eclipta alba (L.) Hasskl, Parthenium hysterophorus L., Saussuria heteromala (D. Don) Hand-Mazz and Taraxacum officinale Weber. Polleniferous material and complete plant specimens were properly collected, identified and utilized for studies. Pollen morphology varies among these species very considerably. Palynomorph inventory was developed, which consist of family name, botanical name, local name, English name, distribution, flower color and season and pollen description. It was found that pollen characters i.e. shape, P/E ratio, surface of exine and pollen morphology was considered to be important characters used as an aid in taxonomy of these species. Pollen fertility estimation ranged from 90 98.11%, which shows that pollen flora of selected species is well established. It was concluded from this research that palynological data is very important not only for taxonomists but also for other scientists working in related disciplines of pure and applied sciences.