First High-Resolution Scanning Electron Photomicrographs of Cucurbita maxima Pollen

Jonathan Daniel Hulse*

Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, United States

*Corresponding Author: Jonathan Daniel Hulse, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, United States.

Received: May 04, 2018; Published: June 09, 2018

Citation: Jonathan Daniel Hulse. “First High-Resolution Scanning Electron Photomicrographs of Cucurbita maxima Pollen". Acta Scientific Agriculture 2.7 (2018).

Abstract

  Cucurbita maxima is a species of cucurbit native to Central America, that has been shown to have many medicinal uses including anti-diabetic, anti-cancer, and anti-inflammatory properties. This economically important member of the Cucurbitaceae is not thoroughly documented in the scientific literature, and this manuscript fills in a major gap that is missing by providing the first high resolution Scanning Electron Microscopy images of Cucurbita maxima pollen to date. The individual pollen grain is a monad with a polar spherical morphology, echinate projections, and is 100μm in diameter. Researchers conducting palynological or paleopalynology studies will be able to use these images as a literature reference for Cucurbita maxima.

Keywords: Cucurbita maxima; Cucurbitaceae; Pollen, Pumpkin; Gourd, Microscopy; Scanning Electron Microscopy; SEM, Palynology; Microscope; Squash; Morphology; Paleopalynology; Anthropology; Forensics

Copyright: © 2018 Jonathan Daniel Hulse. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.