Abstract

The pollen grains of 19 Turkish Salvia species in Aethiopis, Drymosphace, Hemisphace, Hymenosphace and Salvia sections, 13 of which are endemic to Turkey, were investigated, documented and illustrated through Light Microscopy (LM) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). This study provides pollen data of 14 species for the first time. The pollen grains of the species examined are monads, isopolar, radially symmetrical and hexacolpate, mostly medium in size, slightly elliptic to more or less circular in polar view and mainly oblate-spheroidal in equatorial view. Two different ornamentation types are recognized on exine sculpturing; reticulate-perforate and bireticulate. The present results do not generally support the traditional infrageneric classification of Salvia, but provide useful pollen characters for species delimitation.