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Science 7 February 1975:
Vol. 187. no. 4175, pp. 445 - 447
DOI: 10.1126/science.187.4175.445
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Articles

Primitively Columellaless Pollen: A New Concept in the Evolutionary Morphology of Angiosperms

James W. Walker 1 and John J. Skvarla 2

1 Department of Botany, University of Massachusetts, Amherst 01002
2 Department of Botany and Microbiology, University of Oklahoma, Norman 73069

Comparative study of pollen of the ranalean complex has revealed a remarkable, hitherto unrecognized characteristic of primitive angiosperm pollen, namely, its complete lack of columellae. Pollen with such exine has been desnated atectate anid taxa in the Magnoliaceae. Degenzeriaceae, Eupomatiaceae, Annonraceae, and possibly Himantandraceae and Nymphaeaceae have pollen which is considered to be primitively columellaless.

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)