Morphological and palynological study of Juniperus excelsa and Juniperus polycarpos in Golestan Province of Iran

Pollen grain of Juniperus excelsa and J. polycarpos were collected from Chahar Bagh stand, Golestan province and examined by Light and Scanning Electron Microscope. In the present study, 11 characters of pollens were selected and measured. The results showed that all pollen grains were Monad, Ulcurate, Asymmetric, and small in size. In terms of the shape, both species were prolate-spheroidal with granulate ornamentation. The feature of pollen in Light Microscope is circulated with a smooth surface, however, pollen grains in Scanning electron microscope is irregular. In general, the results showed that pollen grains characters are not a valuable indicator for separating of species in this genus

Keywords:

Morphology , Polar axis , Exine , Scanning electron microscope , Juniperus