Abstract
The morphology of the pollen grains obtained from dried specimens of one spiny and one spineless folk varieties grown at distant sites, West Papua (Irian Jaya) and West Sumatra, in Indonesia was examined to investigate intra-specific differences in sago palm (Metroxylon sagu Rottb.) . The two folk varieties displayed both perfect (hermaphrodite) and male (staminate) flowers on a single palm. The two flower types did not differ in size in either folk varieties and the gynoecium was reduced to a pistillode in the male flower. Pollen grains were produced from hermaphrodite and staminate flowers in both folk varieties, and were examined by SEM. The pollen grains were equatorially disulcate, i.e. they exhibited two germination apertures on the short equatorial axis of the pollen grains. In vitro, the general shape of the pollen grains was ellipsoid. There were variations in the pollen grain shape from the hermaphrodite and staminate flowers in both folk varieties, presumably due to the level of contraction or expansion of the pollen grain wall (exine) . However, there were no distinct differences in the shape between the pollen grains produced from hermaphrodite or staminate flowers in either folk varieties. In the hermaphrodite and staminate flowers of both folk varieties, the tectum of the pollen grains was psilate (smooth), and often sparsely perforated. We did not record any significant differences in the exine characteristics or, in the pollen grain shape, in the two folk varieties examined.
