Pollen morphology of Pinus uliginosa Neum. and Pinus uncinata Ramond ex DC in an experimental culture

Pollen grains of Pinus uliginosa and P. uncinata were examined by light and scanning electron microscopy. The pollen grains were bisaccate and monosulcate. The corpus-saccus attachment was distinct. The pollen corpus exine sculpture was verrucate-rugulate and deeply sculptured. The surface of the tectum was with or without small grana and it was perforate. The saccus sexine ornamentation was reticulate and irregularly perforate. The tectum surface characters in the proximal and distal view of the corpus and saccus were less variable and they did not provide good criteria to identify the species under study. Among the P. uncinata from the Forest Arboretum there were differences observed in the size, shape and height of elevation and sculpture on the corpus between pollen grains of the same specimen. This study of the pollen grain morphology of the corpus and saccus provided some important new data.