Nyssa (Nyssaceae)


Nyssa sylvatica
U Conn Plant Database


Nyssa bifida
ANU Pollen lab


Nyssa sylvatica
USDA APMRU

Plant:
Deciduous trees. Leaves alternate, simple. Flowers in axillary clusters, unisexual. Fruit a drupe with a winged or ridged pit. Temperate Eastern North America, China.

Pollen light micrograph:
Grain 50-55µm, tricolporate with characteristic internal thickening in the pore region. Furrow delimitation sharp, furrows short (large polar area). Sculpture scabrate. Spheroidal to oblate in equatorial view, triangular in polar view.

Pollen scanning electron micrograph (SEM)
Scabrate sculptuing uniform. Sharp furrow delimitation, Furrow membrane smooth.

Production and Dispersal:
Low production, moderate to poor dispersal.

Preservation:
Moderately well preserved.

Fossil Occurrence:
Macrofossils common in Tertiary floras. Nyssa pollen is present in the mid Eocene Claiborne Formation of Southeastern U.S.A. (Tsuchdy & Scott, 1969).

References:
    Dilcher, D.L., McQuade, J.F. 1967.
    A morphological study of Nyssa endocarps from Eocene deposits in Western Tennessee. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 94: 35-40.

    Eyde, R.H. 1959.
    The discovery and naming of the Genus Nyssa. Rhodora 61: 209-218.

    Tsuchdy, R.H. and Scott, R.A. 1969.
    Aspects of palynology. Wiley Interscience.
Pollen Morphology
    Sohma, K. 1963.
    Pollen morphology of the Nyssaceae, 1. Nyssa and Camptotheca. The Science Reports Of The Tohoku University,Ser.4 29: 389-392.

    Sohma, K. 1967.
    Pollen morphology of the Nyssaceae, 2. Nyssa and Davidia. The Science Reports Of The Tohoku University,33: 527-532.

Links
Owen Davis 10/00