A palynological study of Viola in Korea

Palynological studies were conducted to investigate the interspecific relationships among 43 Korean Viola taxa. Pollen of the genus Viola in Korea was monad in terms of the cell unit, and small or medium in size. The shape of the polar view was angular or circular, and the equatorial view was divided into prolate, subprolate, and prolate -spheroidal categories. The pollen polarity was isopolar, and the aperture type was 3-5 colporate. The surface sculptures of the equatorial view were found to be punctate-scabrate, punctate-rugulate, and punctate-rugulate-fossulate-scabrate. Consequently, as the pollen of most Viola taxa have similar morphological characters, it was difficult to construct a palynological description of each species. However, the seven taxa of V. arvensis, V. tricolor, V. diamantiaca, V. patrinii, V. mirabilis, V. grypoceras var. pubescens, and V. raddeana were clearly distinguished with morphologically similar species according to the aperture number, surface patterns and pollen sizes, all of which can be used as useful pollen characters.