Tricolpate grains
Among the earliest fossil pollen from unquestioned angiosperms found in the fossil record are the tricolpate grains. These grains have three more-or-less evenly spaced folds or colpi around the periphery from pole to pole. The colpi serve as germination furrows for the emerging pollen tube during fertelization. They also give the grains of this type a distinct appearance that serves to classify them in this category.
The grains shown here include an equatorial and a polar view of a tiny grain of tricolpate pollen from a huge-leaved tropical genus of the family Gunneraceae. These plants often are used during rainstorms to provide a degree of protection from the elements. This attribute has earned the plant the nick-name of "The poor-man's umbrella"
Among the earliest fossil pollen from unquestioned angiosperms found in the fossil record are the tricolpate grains. These grains have three more-or-less evenly spaced folds or colpi around the periphery from pole to pole. The colpi serve as germination furrows for the emerging pollen tube during fertelization. They also give the grains of this type a distinct appearance that serves to classify them in this category.
The grains shown here include an equatorial and a polar view of a tiny grain of tricolpate pollen from a huge-leaved tropical genus of the family Gunneraceae. These plants often are used during rainstorms to provide a degree of protection from the elements. This attribute has earned the plant the nick-name of "The poor-man's umbrella"