Cyperaceae
Sedge
Colby College Biology 211: Taxonomy of Flowering Plants
Carex pringlei
APMRU G.Jones
Drawing by Allen Solomon
UofAz Palynology
Plant:
Cyperaceae are abundant in aquatic vegetation, in alpine
meadows, and as understory plants in mesic forests.
Pollen light micrograph:
Pollen grains circular to wedge-shaped ca. 16 - 60 µm
with one to fourlarge irregular apertures covered with patches of
irregular tectum. The apertures are circular to oblong. Faegri,
Kaland and Krzywinkski (1989, p. 284) provide a key to seven
European Cyperaceae types, based on these criteria, but to reach
the special key, one can begin either with the monoporate or
periporate pollen classes. Kapp (1969) keys Cyperaceae as either
inaperturate or periporate.
Pollen scanning electron micrograph (SEM)
Rough apertures plainly visible.
Production and Dispersal:
Wind pollinated with low production and dispersal.
Preservation:
Moderately well preserved.
Fossil Occurrence:
The pollen of aquatic plants is not routinely included in the pollen sum
to avoid local bias, so Cyperaceae pollen should be excluded if it
originates from aquatic plants, but it should be included if is from
plants growing in upland settings. The problem is that it is not
always possible to make species-level identification of the Cyperaceae.
Thus, the choice of whether to include it in the sum may rest on an
assumption as to its origin.
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Faegri, K., Kaland, P.E., and Krzywinski, K. 1989.
Faegri, K. and J. Iversen Textbook of Pollen Analysis. John Wiley & Sons New York (Fourth Edition by ) 328 p.
Kapp, R.O. 1969.
How to know pollen and spores. W. C. Brown Co. Publ. Dubuque, Iowa. 249 p.
Owen K. Davis 12/99