Orbicule

Orbicules (syn. Ubisch bodies, con-peito grains) are small acellular structures of sporopollenin (known size range from < 1 μm to 15 μm, but usually sub-micrometre) that might occur on the inner tangential and radial walls of tapetal cells. They are believed to help in the ornamentation of the sporopollenin present on the pollen grains. Current consensus is that they are just a by-product of pollen wall sporopollenin synthesis.

  • A photo of Nelumbo orbicules: Kreunen, S.S. & Osborn, J.M. (1999), "Pollen and Anther Development in Nelumbo (Nelumbonaceae)(figure 32)", American Journal of Botany, 86 (12): 1662–1676, doi:10.2307/2656664, JSTOR 2656664, PMID 10602759


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