Pollen of African Spermacoce species (Rubiaceae) Morphology and evolutionary aspects

Pollen morphology of 43 African species of the genus Spermacoce has been investigated by scanning electron and light microscopy. The genus is eurypalynous, which is reflected in the remarkable variation of almost all pollen characters. The average equatorial diameter (E) ranges from 15.8 w m to 115.5 w m. Grains are colporate or pororate. The number of apertures varies from 3 up to more than 25. The majority of species has apertures situated only at the equator (being zonoaperturate), but a few species have pantoaperturate grains. The endoaperture is generally an endocingulum, often with a secondary lolongate or lalongate thinning at the ectocolpus; endocolpi and endopores are also observed. The sexine is usually perforate, but eutectate, foveolate, and (micro)reticulate tecta were also found. Supratectal elements are present as granules, microspines or spines. The inner nexine surface is granular, often with irregular grooves (endocracks). Among native African species, nine pollen types are recognized mainly on the basis of pollen size, aperture morphology and tectum peculiarities. In two of the pantoaperturate types, apertures are in a configuration not yet recorded for the angiosperms in general. Some evolutionary trends are proposed that await verification by further systematic study. Pollen morphological characters have a high taxonomic value in the genus Spermacoce . They provide almost unique identification marks for the species, which enables sharpening of species boundaries. Small groups of related species often share the same pollen type. The genus Borreria , previously separated from Spermacoce on the basis of its fruit morphology only, is not supported by pollen data.