Morfologia polínica da vegetação da restinga de Algodoal-PA. VII: Família Euphorbiaceae

Abstract

The study of pollen grain morphology is remarkably important, since pollen characters are considered to be indicators of climate and current and extinct geological periods, besides contributing to taxonomy. The term "restinga" refers to the predominant type of vegetation on the coastal beaches of the Brazilian coast. The islands of Algodoal and Maíandeua belonging to the municipality of Maracanã, Pará, Brazil are cited for their lush mangrove and restinga vegetation with diverse plant communities. The restingas and mangroves are areas in need of scientific study, given their rapid degeneration. Many of the coastal ecosystems are already largely degraded without any study to recognize the existing populations. In this work we investigated the pollen of Chamaesyce byssopifolia (L.) Small, jatropha urens varo genuína M. Arg., Peraferruginea (Schott.) Müll Arg., Phyl/anthus hyssopifolioides Kunth., Phyllanthus niruri L., Phy/anthus sp., Sapium marginatum M.Arg. and Sebastiania cornicu/ata M. Arg. of the Euphorbiaceae family. The pollen grains were submitted to the acetolysis method for making permanent slides and later measured, described and illustrated in light and scanning electron microscopy. It was found that the morphology of their pollen grains is very diverse, ranging from small to large, 3(-4)-colporate, punctate, microreticulate and davate surface. The species analyzed were separated using pollen morphology