A palynological study of some Maltese plants

Abstract

Palynology is the study of plant pollen, spores and other certain microscopic organisms (palynomorphs). Palynology is divided into several different applications, such as melissopalynology (study of pollen in honey), entomopalynology (study of pollen that may be found in the body or in the gut of insects), and forensic palynology (use of pollen evidence in legal cases). A palynological study was initiated by collecting pollen specimen from three different parts of Malta, namely Mosta, Rabat and Ghaxaq. The pollen samples were stained using Calberla's staining solution and visualized under a microscope under low and high power magnification. The pollen grain sizes for the selected species varied between 49.7 µm (for Papaver rhoeas) and 71.3 µm (for Sonchus oleraceus). Shapes were classified as spherical (Papaver rhoeas, Diplotaxis erucoides, Salvia officinalis), spherical monad (Oxalis pescaprae, Malva sylvestris), subspherical (Sonchus oleraceus, Taraxacum officinalis, Calendula arvensis), wedge-shaped (Prunus domestica) and oval with air bladders (Cupressus sempervirens). The results have shown that between species of the same family, there are some similarities. These included the shape, size and specific features on the pollen grains such as the presence of spines in the case of plants belonging to the Asteraceae family. It also resulted that the most common pollen grain in most plants, was the spherical shape. The findings can be utilized as a source of identification for any unknown pollen specimen that may cause allergies or even poisoning in animals.