pollen morphology of five iranian olive (olea europaea l.) cultivars

pollen grains of five olive cultivars (olea europaea l .) were examined, using scanning electron microscopy (sem) for identification purposes. four measurments, polar axis (p), equatorial diameter (e), p/e ratio and exine patterns were made. forty pollen grains of each cultivar were viewed before finally selecting a representative pollen grain. polar diameter ranged between 22.76 μm for the ‘mary’ and 28.58 μm for the ‘shengeh’ ‘zard’ and ‘roghani’ cultivars exhibited incomplete closure of the meshes. ‘zard’ and ‘shengeh’ cultivars had thick muri but ‘roghani’, ‘mary’ and ‘fishomi’ possessed thinner muri. scanning electron analysis of pollen grain revealed that specific differences including variation in size and form of the meshes are exist among cultivars. the differences in the exine pattern may help for the identification of some cultivars.