Pollen morphology of some species of family Caryophyllaceae in Iraq

The pollen morphology of ten species of Caryophyllaceae family including Acanthophyllum bracteatum Boiss., A. caespitosum Boiss., A. crassifolium Boiss., Agrostemma gracile Pres., A. githago l., Arenaria balansae Boiss., Bufonia oliveriana Ser., Polycarpon tetraphyllum L., P. succulentum (Delile) J.Gay and Vaccaria pyramidata Med. was studied. The pollen micromorphology of Caryophyllaceae were investigated using light microscopy. Qualitative and quantitative variables related to the type, shape, size, exine thickness and ornamentation were measured. Based on the results, two types of pollen grains tricolpate in Polycarpon species and polyporate in the other species were found. The pollen grains shape was suboblate in P. tetraphyllum, prolate spheroidal in A. gracile and Bufonia oliveriana, and oblate spheroidal in the reset species. The pores were 8-12 in A. crassifolium, 8-10 in A. caespitosum and 18-20 in Agrostemma sp. and 6-8 in the remaining species. The exine thickness was higher as 5μm in A. gracile and lower value of 1.10 μm P. succulentum. All species had significant variances in grain size, small grains in Polycarpon species and medium grains in other species.