Pollen ofAustrobaileya scandensWhite, fixed in FAA, has been investigated by LM, SEM and TEM techniques. The combination of characters is remarkable among the pollen of extant angiosperms: the grains are globose, anasulcate, tectate-perforate, rugulose (reticulate), columellate; the sulcus margin is very marked; the endexine is considerably laminated at the aperture border and slightly laminated outside the aperture. These features underline the isolated systematic position of the Austrobaileyaceae between the Magnoliales and Laurales. Furthermore, the pollen ofAustrobaileyaresemblesClavatipollenites, one of the oldest (probable) angiosperm fossils. It may therefore be interpreted as especially archaic among the angiosperms.
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