Abstract

FRESCURA, Viviane Dal-Souto; LAUGHINGHOUSE IV, Haywood Dail; DOROW, Thais Scotti do Canto-  and  TEDESCO, Solange Bosio. Pollen viability of Polygala paniculata L. (Polygalaceae) using different staining methods. Biocell [online]. 2012, vol.36, n.3, pp.143-145. ISSN 0327-9545.

Polygala paniculata L. is a medicinal plant that grows in the Brazilian Atlantic coast, known as 'barba-de-São-João', 'barba-de-bode', 'vassourinha branca', and 'mimosa'. In this study, pollen viability was estimated by three different staining methods: 2% acetic orcein, 2% acetic carmine, and Alexander's stain. The young inflorescences of twenty accessions were collected and fixed in a solution of ethanol: acetic acid (3:1) for 24 hours, then stored in ethanol 70% under refrigeration. Six slides per plant, two for each stain, were prepared by squashing, and 300 pollen grains per slide were analyzed. Pollen viability was high (>70%) for most accessions of P. paniculata using the Alexander's stain, which proved the most adequate method to estimate pollen viability.

Keywords : Pollen grains; Barba-de-bode; Acetic orcein; Acetic carmine; Alexander's stain.

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