• Korean Journal of Plant Taxonomy
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.339-362
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• 2002

Pollen morphology of 13 species of Korean Euphorbia was re-examined by means of LM and SEM. Taxonomic evaluation of palynological characters and relationships among taxa were also discussed based on the analysis of polar length, equatorial diameter, aperture size and exine thickness. Korean Euphorbia species were classified into three groups based on the mean size of polar length (P) and equatorial diameter (E) as follows:Group 1. sect. Tulocarpa and Tithymalus of subgenus Esula; $(P){\times}(E)=(54.88-67.17{\mu}m){\times}(44.30-64.75{\mu}m)$, Group 2. sect. Esula and Helioscpiae of subgenus Esula; $(P){\times}(E)=(39.98-47.24{\mu}m){\times}(36.07-38.83{\mu}m)$, Group 3. sect. Chamaesyce and Hypericifoliae of subgenus Chamaesyce; $(P){\times}(E)=(30.32-32.51{\mu}m){\times}(21.71-26.23{\mu}m)$. Various features of surface sculpturing were also grouped into 8 types by the characteristics of perporation size and distance of perporations as well as connection state of it. Pollen size and surface sculpturing were comparatively available in the levels of subgenus and section. Especially subgenus Chamaesyce was distinctly different from subgenus Esula by having compactly distributed perporations on exine surface as well as its small size of pollen grains. Because of the great variations in pollen size and the occurrence of various types of surface sculpturing according to the local poulations of each species, it was evaluated that they were unsuitable in classifying each species of Euphorbia. But such cases, that is, E. hylonoma being more familiar with E. ebracteolata than E. Pallasii, and E. pekinensis and E. fauriei as well as E. pallasii being strongly related with each other based on the similarity of surface sculpturing, reflected its usefulness in the classification of some Euphorbia species.