The pollen of <i>Solanum</i> L. and its systematic significance

The morphology of 75 different pollen grains from 67 species of genus <i>Solanum</i> L., two species of genus <i>Cyphomandra</i> Sendt., and six species of genus <i>Lycianthes</i> (Dunal) Hassl. was studied using light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Among them, the pollen of 66 species is described for the first time. Our results suggest that the sexine ornamention of <i>Solanum</i>, <i>Cyphomandra</i> and <i>Lycianthes</i> is extremely similar, but the apertures of genus <i>Solanum</i> and <i>Cyphomandra</i> are not syncolpate while those of genus <i>Lycianthes</i> are syncolpate. Overall, we argued that the <i>Solanum</i> species studied demonstrated sufficient pollinic heterogeneity in their shapes, aperture feature and sexine ornamentation to enable their palynological characterisation and support the point of view that the genus <i>Cyphomandra</i> should be merged into <i>Solanum</i>, but <i>Lycianthes</i> should be an independent genus from the aspect of palynology.