Pollen morphology and plant taxonomy of red oaks in eastern North America

Journal Article · Fri Apr 01 04:00:00 EST 1983 · Am. J. Bot.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2307/2443160· OSTI ID:6102559

Solomon, A M

Identification of Quercus (oak) pollen taxa could enhance Quaternary palynological interpretations from eastern North America. A first step is to determine a morphological and taxonomic basis for such identifications. Scanning electron microscopy was utilized to examine exine-surface features of 266 specimens representing 21 red oak (subgen. Erythrobalanus) species from eastern North America, and two intermediate oak (subgen. Protobalanus) species from the desert southwest. Twenty pollen morphological characteristics defined previously were tabulated for each of 324 pollen grains. The data were subjected to cluster analyses. Cluster diagrams were compared with traditional oak systematics. Pollen morphology and plant taxonomy compared poorly with respect to series and species relationships among the red oaks, apparently due as much to high intraspecific and low interspecific variability in pollen-morphological characters as to the uncertain taxonomy of red oaks. Pollen morphology, however, does support the hypothesis of subgeneric oak evolution from intermediate oaks to the series Virentes of white oaks, and from more advanced white oaks to the red oak species. 19 references, 25 figures, 1 table.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab., TN
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-26
• OSTI ID: 6102559
• Journal Information: Am. J. Bot.; (United States), Journal Name: Am. J. Bot.; (United States) Vol. 70:4; ISSN AJBOA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

510100* -- Environment
Terrestrial-- Basic Studies-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION
BIOLOGY
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
CORRELATIONS
ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
GAMETES
GERM CELLS
MICROSCOPY
MORPHOLOGY
OAKS
PLANTS
POLLEN
TAXONOMY
TREES