AN INTRODUCTION TO POLLEN ANALYSIS
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER II CHEMISTRY OF PEAT 12 CHAPTER III POLLEN PREPARATIONS 36 CHAPTER IV PREPARATION OF FOSSIL POLLEN BEARING MATERIAL 45 CHAPTER V POLLEN AND SPORE MORPHOLOGY 63 CHAPTER VI POLLEN MORPHOLOGY MONOCOTYLEDONS 80 CHAPTER VII POLLEN MORPHOLOGY DICOTYLEDONS ACERACEAE ERICACEAE 96 CHAPTER VIII POLLEN MORPHOLOGY DICOTYLEDONS FAGACEAE VIOLACEAE 145 CHAPTER IX POLLEN MORPHOLOGY GYMNOSPERMS 190 CONTENTS CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION IT HAS BEEN CLAIMED THAT SKILFUL HUNTERS OF OLD COULD BRING THEIR PREY DOWN EVEN IF THEY CAUGHT ONLY A FLEETING GLIMPSE OF ITS SHADOW BUT STILL MORE REMARKABLE APPEAR THE PERFORMANCES ACCOMPLISHED TO DAY BY THE POLLEN ANALYST OUT OF POLLEN FROM CRUMBLED CLAY OR MINUTE PIECES OF PEAT TAKEN FROM BITS OF EARTHENWARE OR A STONE AXE MAY BE CONSTRUCTED A PICTURE OF THE PRIMEVAL FORESTS WHICH FLOURISHED IN THE REGION AT THE TIME WHEN THE POT OR AXE DROPPED INTO THE BOG THIS IS HOWEVER NOT THE WHOLE STORY IN A CAREFULLY INVESTIGATED REGION IT IS ALSO POSSIBLE TO DETERMINE THE RELATIVE IN CERTAIN PLACES EVEN THE ABSOLUTE AGE OF A POLLEN BEARING SAMPLE AND TO ASCERTAIN ITS PLACE IN A SYSTEM OF CURVES ILLUSTRATING CHANGES IN VEGETATION AND CLIMATE DURING AGES LONG PAST POLLEN ANALYSIS IS A YOUNG SCIENCE AT THE SIXTEENTH MEETING OF SCANDINAVIAN NATURALISTS IN OSLO IN 1916 IT RECEIVED ITS BIRTH CERTIFICATE BY LENNART VON POST WHO AT THAT OCCASION READ A PAPER ON THE POLLEN OF FOREST TREES IN BOGS OF SOUTHERN SWEDEN THE SCIENCE OF POLLEN ANALYSIS BECAME OF AGE ONLY A FEW YEARS AGO HAVING ALREADY MADE A BRILLIANT RECORD IN ITS CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH THIS IS AMPLY ATTESTED BY APPROXIMATELY 1500 PUBLICATIONS WHICH HAVE BEEN PUBLISHED ON THE SUBJECT TO DATE POLLEN ANALYSIS IS ESSENTIALLY FOUNDED ON THE FOLLOWING FACTS AT THE TIME OF FLOWERING MANY TREES SHED GREAT QUANTITIES OF POLLEN A SINGLE BIRCH CATKIN MAY PRODUCE IN EXCESS OF TEN MILLION POLLEN GRAINS IN GENERAL POLLEN GRAINS ARE VERY SMALL AS A RULE AVERAGING BETWEEN ONE HUNDREDTH AND ONE TENTH OF A MILLIMETER IN DIAMETER EASILY CARRIED BY THE WIND SOME OF THEM ARE TRANSFERRED INTO HIGHER REGIONS BY VERTICAL AIR CURRENTS AND REMAIN THERE FOR DAYS WEEKS OR EVEN MONTHS BEFORE THEY SETTLE BACK TO EARTH IN THE MEANTIME THIS PLANKTON OF THE AIR MAY HAVE MOVED OVER GREAT DISTANCES GREENLAND PESTS CONTAIN POLLEN GRAINS OF PINE AND SPRUCE THAT MUST HAVE BEEN CARRIED AT LEAST ZOO KILOMETERS THE DISTANCE OF THE NEAREST CONIFEROUS FOREST IN LABRADOR CHARLES LINDBERGH TRAPPED POLLEN GRAINS AND SPORES BY MEANS OF SKY HOOKS DURING A FLIGHT OVER GREENLAND IN 1937 THE AUTHOR 1 COLLECTED POLLEN GRAINS AND SPORES BY MEANS OF VACUUM CLEANERS PRACTICALLY THE WHOLE WAY ACROSS THE ATLANTIC BETWEEN GOTHENBURG AND NEW YORK AMONG THE POLLEN GRAINS THUS OBTAINED AMERICAN SPECIMENS WERE FOUND AT LEAST AS FAR AS 70O KILOMETERS EAST OF NEWFOUNDLAND FOR PRACTICAL PURPOSES OF POLLEN ANALYSIS HOWEVER SUCH FAR TRAVELLING GRAINS ARE OF MINOR IMPORTANCE AFTER THEIR AERIAL JOURNEY THE POLLEN GRAINS MAY SETTLE ON THE SURFACE OF A BOG OR LAKE OR IN A BAY WHERE SEDIMENTS ARE DEPOSITED AND BE BORN IN VASTERAS R88Q GEOLOGIST AT THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF SWEDEN R9RO 1930 PROFESSOR OF GEOLOGY AT THE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF STOCKHOLM SINCE 1930 PORTRAIT PAGE 231 EMBEDDED IN THE ACCUMULATING PEAT OR OOZE AND PRESERVED IN THIS WAY THE PEAT BOGS AND THE SEDIMENT BANKS ON LAKE BOTTOMS BECOME ARCHIVES OF VEGETATIONAL HISTORY IMPRISONING POLLEN GRAINS SEASON AFTER SEASON MILLENNIUM AFTER MILLENNIUM A TRAINED POLLEN ANALYST STUDYING THESE FOREST ARCHIVES MAY NOT ONLY BE ABLE TO TELL THE FAMILY OR GENUS TO WHICH THE POLLEN GRAINS BELONG BUT ALSO THE SPECIES AND IN SOME CASES EVEN THE SUBSPECIES THE IDENTIFICATION OF THE POLLEN GRAINS IS HOWEVER ONLY ONE SIDE OF THE MATTER ANOTHER AND NO LESS IMPORTANT IS THE INTERPRETATION OF THE FOSSIL POLLEN FLORA THIS IS SOMETIMES A VERY DIFFICULT PROBLEM THUS A PEAT SAMPLE MAY PROVIDE HAZEL NUTS BUT NO HAZEL POLLEN AND BOGS WITHIN AN AREA WITH ASPEN AND POPLAR PREDOMINATING MAY CONTAIN MUCH THE SAME POLLEN FLORA AS BOGS OF A NEARBY AREA WITH PINE AND SPRUCE PREDOMINATING THE LATTER CASE MAY BE EXPLAINED BY THE FACT THAT THE EXINES OF ASPEN AND POPLAR POLLEN GRAINS ARE SO THIN THAT THEY ARE PRESERVED ONLY IN EXCEPTIONAL CASES WHILST THOSE OF PINE AND SPRUCE POLLEN ARE VERY RESISTANT TO DECAY FURTHERMORE PINE AND SPRUCE POLLEN IS EASILY CARRIED BY THE WIND AND MAY BE SCATTERED OVER CONSIDERABLE AREAS OUTSIDE OF THE CONIFEROUS REGION THEREFORE IT GOES WITHOUT SAYING THAT THE EVIDENCE OF POLLEN GRAINS SOMETIMES MUST BE TAKEN WITH A GRAIN OF SALT THE DEVELOPMENT OF POLLEN ANALYSIS MIGHT IN A CERTAIN SENSE BE COMPARED TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF A RIVER SYSTEM THE OSLO PAPER WAS THE SOURCE AND STIMULUS SUCCESSIVELY AND IN EVER INCREASING NUMBERS TRIBUTARIES COLLABORATORS JOINED THE MAIN STREAM THE COURSE OF WHICH WAS DIRECTED BY VON POST AND HIS ASSISTANTS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF SWEDEN AT TIMES UNCRITICAL OVERPRODUCTION INCREASED THE STREAM MORE IN BREADTH 2 AN INTRODUCTION TO POLLEN ANALYSIS THAN IN DEPTH AT PRESENT ITS VOLUME HAS INCREASED TO SUCH AN EXTENT THAT A CLEAVAGE OF THE STREAM INTO DIFFERENT CHANNELS MUST BE EXPECTED FROM THESE CHANNELS AN INCREASING NUMBER OF FIELDS OF SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITY FROM QUATERNARY GEOLOGY TO CLIMATOLOGY AND ARCHAEOLOGY MAY BE FERTILIZED AS A RESULT OF A MORE AND MORE EFFICIENT SYSTEM OF IRRIGATION IMPROVED RESEARCH METHODS HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO THE PRESENT SITUATION FOR EXAMPLE BY CERTAIN CHEMICAL METHODS IT IS NOW POSSIBLE TO DISSOLVE AWAY MORE OF THE MATRIX IN WHICH THE FOSSIL GRAINS OCCUR THUS GREATLY FACILITATING THEIR ANALYSIS DIFFERENT SOILS PREVIOUSLY CONSIDERED MORE OR LESS DEVOID OF POLLEN CLAY RAW HUMUS ETC HAVE BECOME AMENABLE TO POLLEN ANALYSIS AND BY CONCENTRATING THE POLLEN GRAINS OF A SAMPLE WHICH IN ITSELF IS RICH IN POLLEN RARE KINDS OF POLLEN MAY BE DISCOVERED TO THE POLLEN GEOLOGIST POLLEN GRAINS ARE MERELY INDEX FOSSILS BY MEANS OF WHICH A PARTICULAR HORIZON MAY BE TRACED FROM ONE PEAT DEPOSIT TO ANOTHER FROM PROVINCE TO PROVINCE OR EVEN FROM ONE COUNTRY TO ANOTHER TO THE POLLEN BOTANIST ON THE OTHER HAND IDENTIFICATION IS AN IMPORTANT CONSIDERATION THE MORE POLLEN SPECIES IDENTIFIED THE MORE COMPLETE WILL BE THE PICTURE OF THE FORMER VEGETATION POLLEN AND SPORE RESEARCH IS CONCERNED NOT ONLY WITH THE LATE QUATERNARY HISTORY OF THE VEGETATION BUT ALSO WITH THE HISTORY OF THE PLANT KINGDOM DURING MORE DISTANT EPOCHS WITH THE ELUCIDATION OF THE ENIGMA OF THE ORIGIN OF THE ANGIOSPERMS ETC A SUCCESSFUL ATTACK ON THESE GREAT PROBLEMS DEMANDS ABOVE ALL AN EXTENSIVE KNOWLEDGE OF THE POLLEN AND SPORE TYPES AMONG CONTEMPORARY PLANTS SURPRISINGLY LITTLE HOWEVER HAS SO FAR BEEN ACCOMPLISHED IN THIS FIELD THIS OUTLINE OF THE POTENTIALITIES OF POLLEN ANALYSIS MAY EASILY BE AUGMENTED INASMUCH AS POLLEN RESEARCH IS NOT CONFINED EXCLUSIVELY TO PALAEOBOTANY PLANT SYSTEMATICS AND PLANT GEOGRAPHY IT IS ALSO LINKED UP WITH MANY OTHER FIELDS OF SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITY SUCH AS FORESTRY SOIL SCIENCE LIMNOLOGY AND DIFFERENT GEOLOGICAL DISCIPLINES WE MAY ALSO MENTION ARCHAEOLOGY CLIMATOLOGY AND AEROBIOLOGY WITH ITS RAMIFICATIONS IN MEDICINE HYGIENE PHYTOPATHOLOGY ETC AND EVEN PHARMACOGNOSY THE DETECTION OF HONEY AND DRUG ADULTERATION THROUGH POLLEN ANALYSIS 3 AN INTRODUCTION TO POLLEN ANALYSIS