Comparative Analysis of Pollen Grains from Various Floral Species Using Scanning Electron Microscope

The morphology of pollen may be used for identification of different species of plants. In this study, pollen morphology and ultrastructure of four cultivars of Moss Rose, Hibiscus rosa sinensis, Petunia and Red Garden Rose were examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The characteristics studied were pollen size and shape (length, width, and length/width ratio), length of the colpus, width of the mesocolpium, and exine characteristics (number of ridges per an area of 100 μm2, width of the ridge, and width of the furrow). All these plant flowers had tricolpate pollen grains and striate exine ornamentation, but significant differences in some traits were found.