Discrimination of rose cultivar groups by pollen surface structure

Abstract

SUMMARYPollen surface structures of 166 taxa of roses were examined using scanning electron microscopy and by subsequent multivariate analyses to deduce pollen traits discriminating rose cultivar groups. Each main cultivar group was distinguished by ridges and perforations on the pollen surface deduced by principal component analysis and discriminant analysis. Of the pollen surface traits measured, interval of ridges was selected as being the most useful by numerical analyses. Some ancient cultivar groups (old roses) and other cultivar groups showed specific pollen surface structures similar to ancestral species, and it was suggested that specific pollen surface structures transmit well from wild species to cultivars.