Search for: All records

Vernonia (Asteraceae: Vernonieae) is monophyletic if circumscribed to include only a North American clade of ca. 20 species. Vernonia pratensis, an endemic species of Madagascar, has been placed in the synonymy of Cyanthillium patulum or considered a distinct species in Bothriocline. In this study we characterise the pollen and cypsela of Vernonia pratensis, Bothriocline longipes, and Cyanthillium patulum with details on morphology and ultra-sculpture. The pollen grains of these species are 3-brevicolporate or 3-porate and echinolophate; in B. longipes and V. pratensis there is an inconspicuous colpus formed by interlacunar gaps (absent in C. patulum). The cypselae of B. longipes and V. pratensis have prominent ribs, broader or equally as wide as the grooves and that are fused into a shallow, apical rim; the grooves are covered by unicellular trichomes (type 1) with a striate cuticle. By contrast, the cypselae of C. patulum have ribs narrower than the grooves and not fused apically; the grooves are covered by infundibular idioblasts, and bilobed glandular trichomes at the base. Based on these morphological findings, V. pratensis is here placed in Bothriocline and named B. madagascariensis. This is the single species that occurs in Madagascar within a genus of ca. 50 species otherwise restricted to Tropical Africa and subtropical Southern Africa. Full palynological descriptions, measurements, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and light microscopy (LM) images are provided for the three species (B. longipes, B. madagascariensis, and C. patulum), as well as a full taxonomic description of B. madagascariensis, with a preliminary conservation status assessment, nomenclatural notes, and a discussion of possible relationships with other species of Bothriocline. 

Centauropsis is a genus of eight species in the family Compositae, all of which are endemic to Madagascar. There is almost no information about the pollen of this genus, with only one species having its pollen described to date, which hinders systematic studies involving this genus and closely related taxa. In this study, we comprehensively characterise the pollen of Centauropsis, with details on morphology and ultrasculpture for six of the eight species of the genus. The pollen of Centauropsis is here characterised as 3-colporate, with sublophate ornamentation and nanoreticulate sexine. The species differ from each other mostly in length of the axis, morphology of the colporus endoaperture, and spine shape and size. The correlation between palynological characters and their variation within and between species was explored using principal component analyses (PCA) and cluster analyses (unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean [UPGMA] and Euclidean distance). Full palynological descriptions, measurements and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and light microscopy (LM) images are provided for all examined species.