Sains Malaysiana 37(2):  169-176(2008)

Systematic Significance of Pollen Morphology of Shorea,

Hopea, Parashorea and Neobalanocarpus (dipterocarpaceae) in Malaysia

(Kesignifikan morfologi pollen ke atas sistematik Shorea, Hopea, Parashorea dan Neobalanocarpus (Dipterocarpaceae) di Malaysia)

Noraini Talip

Pusat Pengajian Sains Sekitaran dan Sumber Alam

Fakulti Sains dan Teknologi, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia

Received: 12 February 2007 / Accepted: 2 Ogos 2007

ABSTRACT

Palynology study was undertaken on 32 taxon of Malaysian Dipterocarpaceae belonging to four genera Shorea, Hopea, Parashorea and Neobalanocarpus heimii, to investigate pollen morphology systematic significance at lower hierarchical levels. Results show that pollen morphology within these four groups is fairly uniform. There is no character that can really separate these four genera. However S. maxima can be distinguished from other Shorea by its crotonoid exine ornamentation and it could be a diagnostic character for this species. The colpate apertures and the closely comparable exine ornamentation confirm the homogeneity of this tribe. This is similar to the results reported by Erdtman (1952) and Maury et al. (1975). The presence of two types of pollen grain, tricolpate and tetracolpate, strongly suggests it corresponds to the species chromosome number or more specifically polyploidy. The results of this present study show that there are overlapping morphological characters in these two closely allied genera Hopea and Shorea. The pollen morphology in Hopea shows an agreement with Ashton’s classification (1982) at subspecies level. All species in Parashorea show similarities in pollen morphology with an exception in   P. tomentella which is slightly different in exine ornamentation. This study has shown that pollen characters do not provide much information for systematic analysis especially at lower hierarchical levels except for genus Hopea.

Keywords: Dipterocarpaceae; palynology; pollen

ABSTRAK

Kajian palinologi terhadap 32 takson Dipterocarpaceae di Malaysia dari empat genus Shorea, Hopea, Parashorea dan Neobalanocarpus telah dijalankan untuk melihat kesignifikan morfologi polen pada hierarki rendah. Morfologi polen bagi empat genus ini agak seragam dan tiada ciri polen yang boleh memisahkan keempat-empat genus ini. Walau bagaimanapun S. maxima boleh dibezakan dari spesies Shorea yang lain melalui struktur ornamentasi eksin jenis krotonoid yang boleh dijadikan ciri diagnostik bagi spesies ini. Apertur jenis kolpat dan kesamaaan pada ornamentasi eksin menunjukkan tribus ini homogen seperti yang dilaporkan oleh Erdtman (1952) dan Maury et al. (1975). Kehadiran dua jenis polen, trikolpat and tetrakolpat, dicadangkan sejajar dengan bilangan kromosom. Kajian ini juga menunjukkan pertindihan ciri morfologi polen bagi Hopea dan Shorea. Morfologi polen dalam genus Hopea menunjukkan persetujuan dengan pengelasan Ashton (1982). Semua spesies Parashorea menunjukkan morfologi polen yang sama kecuali bagi P. tomentella yang berbeza dari segi ornamentasi eksin. Kajian ini menunjukkan bahawa morfologi polen tidak mengandungi maklumat yang banyak untuk analisis sistematik terutamanya di peringkat hierarki rendah kecuali bagi genus Hopea.

Kata kunci: Dipterocarpaceae; Palinologi; Polen 

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