The plant genus Cuphea (family Lythraceae) promises to provide a new source of industrially and nutritionally important medium-chain fatty acids, especially of lauric acid now supplied exclusively by coconut and palm kernel oils from foreign sources. The seed lipids of Cuphea were first discovered in the 1960s to contain high percentages of several medium-chain fatty acids, including caprylic, capric, lauric, and myristic acid. Research is still in the early stages, but it is intensifying toward the goal of developing the genus into a new temperate climate crop for production of specialty oils. Given the diversity of Cuphea seed lipid composition and the wide ecological and distributional range of the genus, it may be possible to tailor crops to produce selected fatty acids on demand under a variety of growing conditions. Cuphea comprises about 260 species, most native to the New World tropics. Its morphology, classification, chromosome numbers, distribution, ecology, and folk uses are presented. Seed structure is described and seed lipid composition for 73 species is summarized. Problems in domestication and agronomic progress are reviewed. Knowledge of the biosynthetic mechanism controlling the lipids produced by Cuphea remains very limited. Future research in this area, and particularly successful employment of gene transfer techniques, may allow genes controlling the mechanism to be transferred to an already established seed oil producer such as rapeseed. Presently, both traditional plant breeding techniques and newer biotechnological methods are directed toward Cuphea oilseed development.

Cuphea: a new plant source of medium-chain fatty acids.

Palynology and systematics of the Lythraceae. I: Introduction and genera Adenaria through Ginoria

Pollen of the 27 genera presently recognized as comprising the family Lythraceae have been surveyed with light microscopy and scanning and transmission electron microscopy. Results for five genera (Physocalymma, Pleurophora, Rotala, Tetrataxis, Woodfordia), in addition to Duabanga, Sonneratia, and Punica (assigned to the Lythraceae in some classifications), are presented here; the remaining genera were treated previously in the series. The family is revealed as the most diverse palynologically of the order Myrtales. The most simple pollen type and the one common to the largest number of genera is prolate-spheroidal to prolate; tricolporate, without pseudocolpi; psilate, scabrate or finely verrucate; and 16-28 μm or less in length. Specializations include oblate grains, development of pseudocolpi (three or six in number), diversification of exine sculpturing, broadening of the colpal and pseudocolpal areas, and reduction in the conspicuousness of the colpi. Pollen evidence provides qualified support for inclusion of Punica in the Lythraceae, the generalized nature of the pollen tempering the conclusion, and little support for inclusion of Sonneratia and Duabanga in the family. Completion of the survey provides a data base of pollen characters that will be integrated in future studies with other evidence into an overall phenetic and cladistic assessment of the family leading to production of a more natural classification.

Palynology and systematics of the lythraceae. iii. genera physocalymma through woodfordia, addenda, and conclusions.

The study of pollen morphology has historically allowed evolutionary biologists to assess phylogenetic relationships among Angiosperms, as well as to better understand the fossil record. During this process, pollen has mainly been studied by discretizing some of its main characteristics such as size, shape, and exine ornamentation. One large plant clade in which pollen has been used this way for phylogenetic inference and character mapping is the order Myrtales, composed by the small families Alzateaceae, Crypteroniaceae, and Penaeaceae (collectively the "CAP clade"), as well as the large families Combretaceae, Lythraceae, Melastomataceae, Myrtaceae, Onagraceae and Vochysiaceae. In this study, we present a novel way to study pollen evolution by using quantitative size and shape variables. We use morphometric and morphospace methods to evaluate pollen change in the order Myrtales using a time-calibrated, supermatrix phylogeny. We then test for conservatism, divergence, and morphological convergence of pollen and for correlation between the latitudinal gradient and pollen size and shape. To obtain an estimate of shape, Myrtales pollen images were extracted from the literature, and their outlines analyzed using elliptic Fourier methods. Shape and size variables were then analyzed in a phylogenetic framework under an Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process to test for shifts in size and shape during the evolutionary history of Myrtales. Few shifts in Myrtales pollen morphology were found which indicates morphological conservatism. Heterocolpate, small pollen is ancestral with largest pollen in Onagraceae. Convergent shifts in shape but not size occurred in Myrtaceae and Onagraceae and are correlated to shifts in latitude and biogeography. A quantitative approach was applied for the first time to examine pollen evolution across a large time scale. Using phylogenetic based morphometrics and an OU process, hypotheses of pollen size and shape were tested across Myrtales. Convergent pollen shifts and position in the latitudinal gradient support the selective role of harmomegathy, the mechanism by which pollen grains accommodate their volume in response to water loss.

/pdf/a-continuous-morphological-approach-to-study-the-evolution-4hy03imvy7.pdf

A continuous morphological approach to study the evolution of pollen in a phylogenetic context: An example with the order Myrtales

The pollen morphology of 30 species representing eleven closely related Solanaceous genera was investigated using standard palynological techniques, light microscopy, and computer statistical analysis. The genera studied were Athenaea Sendtn., Capsicum L., Chamaesaracha Gray, Nothocestrum Gray, Physalis L., Saracha Ruiz et Pav., Solanum L., Withania Panq., and Witheringia L'Herit. of the subtribe Solaninae and Acnistus Schott. and Lycium L. of the subtribe Lyciinae. The pollen of many of these taxa have not been studied in detail previously and have been reported to be morphologically similar. Comprehensive examination of the combined qualitative and quantitative data established a basis for palynological separation of most of the genera and some of the species. A diagnostic generic key, pollenmorphological descriptions of the genera, photomicrographs, and statistical analyses of the taxa in the “Solaninae complex” are presented.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00173137109429859

A Palynological Study of the Solaninae (Solanaceae)

A B S T R A C T A survey of pollen from 153 species of Cuphea has revealed a remarkable array of morphological forms. The survey involved light and electron microscope investigations of C. crassiflora, jorullensis, and koehneana to determine details of exine morphology, and a more general study of pollen from an additional 150 species. Comparison of pollen types within a single morphological category and within taxonomic groups (i.e., sections or subsections) indicates considerable variation at subgeneric levels. The genus is distinctly eurypalynous, and the extent to which pollen varies among the sections, subsections, species and varieties is probably exceeded by few genera of comparable size. The pollen is also variable within each taxon, but size studies of singleanther lactic acid preparations demonstrate the genus is not polymorphic, as in Lythrum, where pollen polymorphism is associated with heterostyly. The latter phenomenon is as yet unknown in Cuphea. These results reveal that pollen morphology constitutes an important and useful character for taxonomic studies of Cuphea.

Donald Geer

Papers

Palynology and systematics of cuphea (lythraceae). i. morphology and ultrastructure of the pollen wall