Form variability within the Polygonum bistorta pollen type: a comparison between Pliocene and recent material

• Main Authors: Verhoeven, Koen, Louwye, Stephen
• Other Authors: Brakels, Corrie, Fennema, Kelly, Out, Welmoed A, Vermeeren, Caroline
• Format: Book Part
• Language: English
• Published: Sidestone Press 2010
• Subjects: Earth and Environmental Sciences; Iceland
• Online Access: https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/1058280; http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-1058280; https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/1058280/file/1058281

The NAP component in pollen spectra obtained from marine and estuarine Pliocene sediments in northern Iceland reveals an important continuous presence of aberrant Polygonaceae pollen. The pollen grains show the morphology typical of the Polygonum bistorta type but are conspicuously smaller and have only in three out of five cases clear endopori. As the deviation from the normal may be due to the high latitude of the habitat the pollen is compared with recent reference material collected in Iceland and Western Europe. The sizes of recent pollen from Iceland are really found to be smaller than the values found in the literature concerning the Polygonum bistorta-type. The partly absence of endoapertures was not seen in the recent material.