Microspore morphology of Selaginellaceae in China and its systematic significance.

In this paper, we report the microspore morphology of 18 species in genus Selaginella P.Beauv. of family Selaginellaceae Willk. from China observed using scanning electron microscopy. Among these species, the morphological characteristics of 17 species have not been reported previously. The results show that the surface ornamentation of microspores of Selaginellaceae can be differentiated into nine major types including granulate, tuberculate, verrucate, verrucate-rugulate, spinate, baculate, reticulate, lamellate and cerebroid. These characteristics as taxonomic basis for subgenus classification support the view of Hieronymus (Die naturlichen pflanzenfamilien. Verlag von Wilhelm Engelmann, Leipzig, ) that genus Selaginella should be classified as two sub-genera Homoeophyllum and Heterophyllum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]