ISHS Acta Horticulturae 581: IV International Congress on Cactus Pear and Cochineal
CORRELATIONS BETWEEN POLLEN GRAIN AND SEED CHARACTERS IN OPUNTIA L. TAXA |
| Authors: | W. De Leonardis, C. De Santis, S. Padulosi, G. Fichera |
| Keywords: | Opuntia spp., cultivars, Sicily, genetic diversity, pollen and seed morphology, taxonomic key, evolutive trends. |
| Abstract:
The morphology of pollen grains and seeds represent an important diagnostic tool for the taxonomist. So far, pollen and carpological studies on Opuntia have mainly focussed on characters closely related to productivity, whereas little work has been done on the type of ornamentation of the seed coat, a useful character for the infra-specific identification of its taxa. From a palinological point of view the pollen of Opuntia has been described as reticulate, 12-porate and having a circular-hexagonal perimeter. The aim of this study was to investigate on the identification of both pollen and the seed morphotypes of ten entities belonging to the genus Opuntia originating from Sicily (southern Italy) in order to shed light on possible correlations and/or existence of affinity groups Two identification keys, based on seed and pollen characters resulted from these investigations. | |
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