Droserapollis Explained

Droserapollis is a genus of extinct plants in the family Droseraceae. It is a form taxon known only from fossil pollen.

Droserapollis pollen grains are united in tetrahedral tetrads (groups of four). Individual grains are possibly porate-like. The exine is mixed with gemmate and short baculate processes, whereas the sexine is granulate.^[1]

Poorly preserved^[2] pollen of D. gemmatus has been found in the Miocene Yutengping Sandstone of Taiwan, whereas that of D. khasiensis originates from the Paleocene Lakadong Sandstone of Laitryngew, Khasi Hills, Meghalaya, India.^{[3] [4]} In addition, palynomorphs from Germany have also been assigned to the genus.

Droserapollis pollen matches that of extant Drosera in morphology.^[5] The tetrads of D. gemmatus are 53–56 μm in deter. Individual grains are prolate and measure 35–40 by 25–26 μm. The exine is 1.5–2.4 μm thick, with 1–2 μm long gemmae or bacula.

Notes and References

1. Huang, T.-C. 1978. Web site: Miocene palynomorphs of Taiwan. II. Tetrad grains. . Botanical Bulletin of Academia Sinica 19: 77–81.
2. Degreef, J.D. 1989. Web site: Early history of Drosera and Drosophyllum. . Carnivorous Plant Newsletter 18(3): 86–89.
3. Kumar, M. 1995. Pollen tetrads from Palaeocene sediments of Meghalaya, India: comments on their morphology, botanical affinity and geological records. Palaeobotanist 43(1): 68–81.
4. Saxena, R.K. & G.K. Trivedi 2006. Web site: A Catalogue of Tertiary Spores and Pollen from India. . Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow.
5. Song, Z.-C., W.-M. Wang & F. Huang 2004. Fossil pollen records of extant angiosperms in China. The Botanical Review 70(4): 425–458.