T A X O N O M Y
Triporate & Stephanoporate Grains
Picture of a pollen grain from a member of the Onagraceae family (left) and a grain from Alnus, an alder tree (right). Plants from the Onagraceae family produce some of the most unique three and four-pored pollen grains known. The Alnus grains may contain four to six equatorial pores, six being more common.
The triporate and stephanoporate pollen grains exhibit a host of pattern variations. The grain has three (triporate), or more (stephanoporate), equatorial pores to choose from during the germination process. These variations are useful taxonomic features for fossil forms identification. Triporate and stephanoporate pollen grains are found from mid-Cretaceous to Recent in the fossil record.
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