Palynological studies reveal a wide variation in shape, number and types of apertures in Passiflora pollen grains. This study aimed to characterize pollen grain apertures of eleven species of Passiflora from Rio Grande do Sul state and two species from Santa Catarina state (Brazil), belonging to three of the four subgenera now recognized: Astrophea, Decaloba and Passiflora. Several techniques of light and scanning electron microscopy were employed. Passiflora haematostigma (Astrophea) has 6-colporate pollen grains with three lalongate endoapertures. Passiflora alata, P. amethystina, P. caerulea and P. edulis (Passiflora) have 6-colpate pollen grains, with fusion of ectoapertures pairs in the apocolpium. Passiflora actinia, P. elegans and P. tenuifila (Passiflora) have pollen grains with 6 to 12 colpi, also fused in pairs. Passiflora misera, P. morifolia, P. suberosa and P. truncata (Decaloba) have 6-colporate operculate pollen grains, with differences in endoaperture size and operculum width. Passiflora capsularis (Decaloba) has 12-colporate pollen. The main palynological terms and synonyms in the literature are discussed.
Passiflora; aperture types; pseudoperculum; operculum; palynology
