Tibouchina (Melastomataceae)
Tibouchina urvelliana
The Melastomataceae HomePage
Tibouchina
Jenni Tonks
Plant:
The Melastomataceae is a tropical family of herbs, shrubs and trees,
from 0.1 - 50 m. Leaves are simple to decussate with
acrodromous venation. Flowers are 3- to 5-merous, typically inconspicuous,
except for Tibouchina, the "glory bushes" which are planted
as ornamentals.
Pollen light micrograph:
Tibouchina longifolia (Vahl.) Baill.
Heterocolpate, syncolpate, striate, prolate - spheroidal, ca. 16 x 15 µm.
Pseudocolpi length of grain, colpori equatorially constricted, 1.5 µm wide,
pores 2 x 6 µm, amb hexagonal.
Roubik & Moreno (1991).
Pollen scanning electron micrograph (SEM)
Heterocolpate (6 furrows, 3 pores), prolate with convex sides.
Polar measurement (10 measurements, range [ave.]): 45 -(49.5)- 57.5 µm
Equatorial measurement (10 measurements, range [ave.]): 50 -(56.5)- 65 µm
Sculpture: There is little visible sculpturing on the pollen grains, and the surface is
fairly even (psilate).
Jenni Tonks
Production and Dispersal:
low?
Preservation:
poor (thin wall)?
Fossil Occurrence:
Never Recovered?
I would be very grateful for any citations!
-
Roubik, D.W. and Moreno P., J.E. 1991.
Pollen and spores of Barro Colorado Island. Missouri Botanical Garden, Monographs in Systematic Botany 36. 268 p.
Thanks very much to Jenni Tonks, who writes, " I'm hardly a playnologist, but I must say that having studied Tibouchina a bit lately, I think it deserves a nomination. I've been admiring my SEM pictures, and they're very cool. I am a third year student at University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. . . . I am doing the subject "Evolution in the Australian Flora" (taught by Prof. Chris Quinn -OKD) , of which our pollen analysis is only a small part. I found it really interesting, though, and was very impressed with the SEMs. Our pollen analysis (each person had a different species) involved compiling a description from the SEMs, but we also analysed the pollen grains under the light microscope after acetolysing the pollen. Our aim was to produce a description of the pollen, based on grain type, class of pollen grain, examination of polar and equatorial planes of the grains, and descriptions of exine, apertures and sculpture."