In parts of the world where teosinte and maize are grown in close proximity, there is concern about gene flow between them. Pollen is the primary vehicle for gene flow. Quantifying the biophysical properties of pollen, such as its settling speed and dehydration rate, is important for evaluating outcrossing potential. These properties were measured for teosinte (Zea mays subsp. parviglumis) poll...

studies of postmeiotic chromosomes have been impeded by the thick exine of immature pollen grains. chromosome staining of immature and adult pollen grains through conven-tional acetocarmine procedure is tedious and often leads to unsatisfactory results. an acetocarmine stain, used in conjugation with carnoy’s solution as fixative for 72 hrs or until the chlorophyll-containing tissues of spike b...

Pollen identification helps forensic scientists solve elusive crimes, provides data for climate-change modelers, and even hints at potential sites for petroleum exploration. Despite its wide range of applications, most pollen identification is still done by time-consuming visual inspection by well-trained experts. Although partial automation is currently available, automatic pollen identificati...

Conventional plant microtechniques typically involve fixation, dehydration, and embedding in acrylic or epoxy resins followed by room temperature microtomy. Some cryomethods have been used for pollen grain analysis under light microscopy. However, these protocols do not allow for obtaining sections with similar or better quality compared to resin embedding methods. In this paper, a simple cryop...

Aloe vera L., is a perennial, evergreen, freely suckering plant, distributed throughout the world and widely recognized for its medicinal and cosmetic values. Species have naturalized well in tropical to sub tropical regions of India. Plants growing in these regions are prolific flower producer but do not set any seed. The flowering period of the species in the subtropical climates of Jammu J &...

A series of experiments were conducted using various types of pollen grain, powder and metal particulates to determine their persistence on a range of different types of materials. The decay curves generated in the repeated experiments all broadly conform to those obtained and already presented in the literature for fibres and glass particulates. The experiments presented in this paper were con...

An aeropalynological study was carried out in the atmosphere of Estepona, a very popular tourist resort situated in the "Costa del Sol", (southern Spain) based on the data obtained during a three year air-monitoring programme (March 1995 to March 1998) using a volumetric pollen trap. The 34 taxa that reached a 10-day mean air pollen concentration equal to or greater than 1 grain of pollen/m(3) ...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Hydration, rupture and exine opening due to the sudden and large expansion of intine are typical of taxoid-type pollen grains. A hemispheric outgrowth external to the exine was observed on Cupressus and Juniperus pollen grains before the intine swelling and exine release. However, the actual existence of this permanent or temporary structure and its precise role in pollen hy...

BACKGROUND Privet pollen rarely accounts for more than 1% of the annual total of daily pollen concentrations measured in a city; however in areas where these trees are widely used as ornamentals the amounts collected may be high enough to cause allergy symptoms. METHODS Air samples taken with volumetric particle samplers Lanzoni VPPS 1000 (Lanzoni s.r.l., Bologna, Italy) show that there are d...

pollen storage could facilitate the date palm hand pollination through saving time and space. the main concern is maintaining pollen viability, which is greatly cultivar dependent and is influenced by storage condition. in this study, to address this issue, the effects of cultivar, storage temperature, and time on pollen germination were investigated. a factorial experiment was laid out in a co...