The seed and pollen grain micromorphologies of 10 taxa of the Silene sections Behenantha and Dichotomae (Caryophyllaceae) were analyzed in this study. The results showed that S. euxina can be distinguished from S. dichotoma based on morphological characteristics of their pollen grains and seeds. | Turkish Journal of Botany Research Article Turk J Bot (2017) 41: 493-504 © TÜBİTAK doi: A taxonomic study of the Silene sections Behenantha and Dichotomae (Caryophyllaceae) in Turkey based on the micromorphology of their seed and pollen Mehmet KUH, Kemal YILDIZ*, Ersin MİNARECİ Department of Biology, Faculty of Science and Letters, Manisa Celal Bayar University, Manisa, Turkey Received: Accepted/Published Online: Final Version: Abstract: The seed and pollen grain micromorphologies of 10 taxa of the Silene sections Behenantha and Dichotomae (Caryophyllaceae) were analyzed in this study. Although the seeds of the analyzed taxa were generally reniform, S. tenuiflora and S. koycegizensis from the section Behenantha were clearly distinct from other taxa, while subspecies of S. dichotoma and S. euxina in the section Dichotomae showed differences. Pollen grains are periporate and spheroidal and ornamentation is generally spinulate-microperforate in all taxa. However, ornamentation is spinulate in S. euxina and semireticulate in S. koycegizensis. While the exine structure is generally tectate, it is semitectate in S. koycegizensis. It was found that S. heldreichii and S. cariensis subsp. muglae had the highest number of pores, while S. dichotoma subsp. racemosa had the lowest number of pores. The results showed that S. euxina can be distinguished from S. dichotoma based on morphological characteristics of their pollen grains and seeds. Key words: Morphology, pollen, seed, Silene, taxonomy 1. Introduction The genus Silene L. possesses the highest number of species of the family Caryophyllaceae in Turkey. Forty-three percent of the taxa identified from Turkey are endemic (Yıldız, 2012). It is represented by 44 sections and about 750 species around the world (Melzheimer, 1980; Greuter, 1995), and by 34 sections and 152 species in Turkey with newly added species (Coode and Cullen,
