PALINOTAXONOMIA DE ESPÉCIES BRASILEIRAS DETONTELEAAUBL. (HIPPOCRATEACEAE JUSS.)

Resumen

A pollen taxonomy study of 20 Brazilian
species of Tontelea Aubl. (Hippocrateaceae
]uss) was conducted, with the objective of
contributing to a better characterization of
.the genus. Polliniferous samples were
acetolized, measured, and studied by
optical microscopy and SEM. The optical
microscopy results were used to prepare a
pollen key. Pollen turned out to be provide
good diagnostic characters at a specific
level. Tontellea pollen grains are
predominantly small and microreticulate
with a prominent apertural area. The type
of aperture, exine sculpture, shape and size
classes proved to be constant for each
species, based on the examination of
several specimens of each. It was possible
to distinguish the different species of
Tontelea, based on pollen, except: T.
corymbosa (Huber) A.C.Sm. from T.
martiana (Miers) A.C.Sm.; T. congestiflora
A. C. Sm. from T. laxiflora (Benth.)
A.C.Sm., T. cylindrocarpa (A.C.Sm.)
A.C.Sm. and T. riedeliana (Peyr.) A.C.Sm.;
thus also T. scandens Aubl. from T.
tenuicula (Miers) A.C.Sm. The present
work concludes that Tontelea is
palynologically a more or less
heterogenous group.