12607 10.30848/PJB2025-1(36) <p> Pollen morphological studies of the genus <em>Veronica</em> L. (Plantaginaceae) from lesser Himalayas, Pakistan</p> <p> &nbsp;</p> Shamila Firdous, Jan Alam, Manzoor Hussain, Alia Gul and Muhammad Qaiser <p> Pollen morphological characters of 14 species belonging to the genus <em>Veronica</em> L. from Lesser Himalayas, Pakistan were studied. All the quantitative and qualitative morphological features of the pollen grains including pollen shape, size, apertures, exine thickness and ornamentation were investigated under light microscope (LM) and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). Palynological features of four species <strong>(</strong>namely <em>V. biloba, V. pusilla, V. undulata </em>and <em>V. stewartii</em> were studied for the first time. Pollen grains were mostly medium (more than 25&micro;m), rarely (2 spp.) small sized (less than 25&micro;m); prolate-spheroidal (5 spp.), spheroidal (4 spp.), subprolate (2 spp.), prolate (1 sp.), oblate-spheroidal (1 sp.) and oblate (1 sp.), generally free, radially symmetrical, isopolar and tricolpate. Tectum was generally striate (6 spp.), other tectum types viz., rugulate-punctate (4 spp.), rugulate (1 sp.), microreticulate-punctate (2 spp.) and striate-punctate (1 sp.) were also present. Based on exine sculpturing all the species were divided into three groups, viz. <em>Veronica anagallis aquatica </em>type having striate sculpturing tectum, <em>Veronica biloba </em>type characterized by rugulate sculpturing tectum and micro-reticulate sculpturing tectum. Exine sculpturing (tectum) is an important taxonomic character which could be used for distinguishing species</p> Published 2025 57 1 307 317