• Pollen aperture -- Any modification of the wall of the pollen grain allowing egress; colpi (furrows) and pores.
   
• Colpate -- having a colpus in the surface. Eudicot pollen is tricolpate. Plural, colpi.
   
• Colporate -- having a furrow with a pore in the center.
   
• Colpus -- An elongated depression. A groove or furrow in the surface of pollen of a eudicot.
   
• Exine -- The outer layer of the pollen wall. Pronounced eks - een
   
• Intine -- The inner layer of the pollen wall.
   
• Monocolpate -- Having one single colpus in the surface.
   
• Monosulcate -- Having a single sulcus in the pollen surface. Ref. Biologie Uni Hamburg.
   
• Polyad -- Pollen polyad: The products of several pollen mother cells stay together and form one distribution unit. Ref. Biologie Uni Hamburg.
   
• Pore -- a circular depression or opening in the pollen wall.
   
• Sulcate -- having a sulcus or furrow. Only eudicots have colpi. Other plant types have pollen with a single sulcus. Whether a furrow is a colpus or a sulcus depends on the orientation of the furrow with respect to the equatorial plane and hence to the positions of the original four microspores.
   
• Sulcus -- A furrow in the pollen surface of a non-eudicot plant. Plural, sulci.
   
• Tetrad -- A cluster of four cells formed by cell division.
   
• Tricolpate -- Having three colpi or grooves in the surface. Ref. Biologie Uni Hamburg.
   

References see: http://www.geo.arizona.edu/palynology/ppapertr.html and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollen

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Last revised: 30 December 2011
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© Copyright 2011 by James E. Shields. All rights reserved.