Shaista Jabeen’s research while affiliated with Quaid-i-Azam University and other places

In this study, we explored the palynological features of melliferous taxa from different areas in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. We collected and identified eight species belonging to four different families, including Brassica campestris, Brassica juncea, Brassica oleracea, Eruca sativa, Chorispora tenella, Cicer arietinum, Saccharum spontaneum, and Asphodelus tenuifolius. Under microscopy examination, pollen grains exhibit diverse shapes, including oblate-spheroidal and prolate-spheroidal shapes. With the help of statistical software IBM SPSS Statistics 20, the quantitative data of pollen grains was measured. In this study, Asphodelus tenuifolius were reported to have a maximum polar diameter of 46.29 μm and Brassica oleracea had a minimum of 17.97 μm. The apertures of these pollen grains range from monocolpate to tricolpate. Exine sculpturing exhibited psilate and reticulate patterns, with no presence of spines. Quantitative features, such as polar diameter, equatorial diameter, exine thickness, colpi length, colpi width, and P/E ratio, were studied using light microscopy. The data was statistically analyzed using IBM SPSS software. The result of the present study showed the vital role of pollen morphology in plant identification, floral calendar preparation, and honey production in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The study presents a novel approach and perspective on honey pollen profiles, revealing the plants visited by honeybees for food. Furthermore, the research contributes to enhancing honey production and improving pollination services.

The current study focuses on the previous research on paleopalynology of existing plants from different regions of the Eocene strata of South Asia. This study was conducted for the first time in the study area to highlight the distributions, identifications, and abundance of the floral paleopalynological record of the Eocene in South Asia. The study attempts to describe plant evolution, reconstructions of past climate change, and the effects of these changes on plant communities over time in the study area. The vegetation of the study area during the depositional period was better predicted by the existence of fossil flora. The proposed work yields data on the dominant fossil plant taxa that existed in South Asia over megaannum–including trees, shrubs, herbs, bryophytes and aquatic macrophytes. Results of this work promise to yield novel insights into the synergistic effects of climate change and paleoecology and evolution of plant communities. The data proved useful for establishing links with other branches of sciences, including archaeology, geology, plant ecology and environmental science. The current study aimed to describe phylogeny, reconstructions of past climate change and its effects on plant communities in the Eocene period of south Asia.

ABSTRACT – The current study was the fi rst report on pollen morphology of 17 species belonging to 11 different families that are particularly involved in nectar and pollen collection by honeybees from southern Pakistan using microscopic techniques. The plants were collected after being foraged by honeybees, identifi ed, and studied. Flowering periods, habits and localities of plants were examined. The pollen grains were then passed through the process of acetolysis, measured and both quantitative and qualitative characteristics evaluated. The investigated pollen grains varied in size, shape, colpi/pore and exine sculpturing. The most common type of pollen examined was tricolporate and among the shapes was oblate spheroidal one. Three types of exine sculpturing were observed, psilate, reticulate and echinate. The recorded pollen fertility ranged from 67 to 93 percent, showing that the considered plants are well established in the area. Brassica campestris L. Asphodelus tenuifolius Cav. and Astragalus hamosus L. resulted in the most visited species by honeybees. Our results showed that the pollen morphology of the melliferous plants in the study varies largely. The principal component analysis did not show clusters in relation to specifi c pollination syndromes and only some strictly phylogenetically related species were close in the graph. For this reason, the pollen grain characters can be considered suffi ciently diversifi ed to be used as markers for species identifi cation in melissopalynological analyses. The present study plays a vital role in taxa identifi cation, fl oral calendar preparation, and production of honey in the study area. This evidence may provide the possibility of evaluating the geographical provenance of honey from melissopalynological analysis at least in southern Pakistan

The foliar epidermal, stomatal and trichome properties are frequently used as plant microscopic attributes from a taxonomic or ecological perspective. Among the angiosperm families, the Lamiaceae is one of the most taxonomically difficult, economically significant, and medicinally important families. To better understand the foliar microanatomy of Lamiaceae taxa obtained from Northern Pakistan, this study attempts to determine the variational and diagnostic features of 27 species that were analyzed using light microscopy (LM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). UPGMA cluster analysis, principal component analysis (PCA) and semantic differential chart (SDC) were used to characterize, visualize, and compare the leaf micromorphology across all species. Three different types of epidermal cell types were examined on both foliar surfaces i.e., irregular, hexagonal, and polygonal. Anticlinal wall pattern also shows variation. Anomocytic stomata is dominant in 8 studied species followed by paractic in 5 species, anisocytic in 4 species and diacytic in 2 species. The trichomes could be broadly classified into two groups, glandular trichomes (GTs) and non-glandular trichomes (NGTs). Lamiaceae has two types of glandular trichomes, small capitate and large peltate, which differ in size, structure, and distribution. In present research five distinct forms of non-glandular trichomes are unicellular, multicellular, stellate, branched, and unbranched trichomes. The results that characterized, illustrated, and contrasted the leaf anatomical characteristics of the Lamiaceae taxa can be better understood with the aid of statistical analysis. Future research will depend on these findings to improve the systematics of Lamiaceae taxa. These characteristics have a large taxonomic potential when considered as a whole.

This study on pollen patterns and morphotypes variations in selected Cyperaceae species offers valuable understanding into the evolutionary linkages and floral diversity within this plant family, helping to improve their taxonomic classifications. Pollen of 23 species of Cyperaceae collected from different areas of Pakistan were examined to evaluate the palynological data under light microscopy (LM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Microscopic detailed pollen structures of species; Cyperus rotundus, Cyperus alternifolius (flabelliformis), Cyperus niveus, Bolboschoenus glaucus, Scirpus maritimus (affinis), Fimbristylis bisumbellata, Cyperus longus, Cyperus laevigatus, Cyperus difformis, Carex flacca, Schoenoplectus litoralis, Cyperus esculentus, Cyperus compressus, Cyperus pygmaeus, Fuirena pubescens, Cyperus haspan, Cyperus nutans, Schoenoplectus lacustris, Kylinga brevifolia, Cyperus flavescens, Cyperus iria, Cyperus exaltatus and Cyperus malaccensis were observed. Pollen grains of Cyperaceae were mostly large and there are also medium and small sized grains. Pollen grains of Cyperaceae are semi-angular, sub-angular and angular in shapes in polar view and prolate, pear shaped, spheroidal and prolate-spheroidal in equatorial view. Pollen apertures were mostly sunken, and few raised. Colpi were not visible under light microscopy except in few species. Heteropolar, polar, sub- isopolar and cryptopolar type of pollen were visualized. Apertures of Cyperaceae species were colpate, dicolpate, tricolpate, colporate, dicolporate, porate and tetraporate. Pollen sculpturing was scabrate and granulate and few species also showing foveolate patterns. Psilate verrucate, scabrate and gemmate exine ornamentation were examined. Principal component analysis and cluster analysis was performed to compare, illustrate, and characterize Cyperaceous species quantitative pollen data to study the variance correlation. This study reveals that Cyperaceae palyno-morphological micromorphology are closely related providing in-depth insights into their phylogenetic relationship linked to ecological adaptations provide basis for their accurate taxonomic identification.

The micromorphology of epidermal cells, different types of trichomes, and stomatal complex were used to describe leaf epidermal traits. Light microscopy (LM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to thoroughly analyze the foliar anatomical features of 33 taxa of aromatic and medicinal plants of sub family Nepetoideae. To accurately identify the subfamily taxa, the present study evaluates the leaf anatomical characteristics. The statistical data were used for better understanding the results. The qualitative characters for example, epidermal cells are mostly irregular and polygonal. Aromatic essential oils, saponins, organic acids and tannins are the medical constituents of the Nepetoideae. The highest epidermal cell length at adaxial surfaces was found in Ocimumbasilicum (102 µm). Four types of stomata were examined; i.e., anomocytic, diacytic anisocytic and paracytic. The largest stomata length at abaxial surface was observed in Mentha × piperita (39 µm). In the current study, non-glandular trichomes (NGTs) and glandular trichomes (GTs) were investigated. NGTs were mostly branched, unicellular- multicellular with long falcate, short hook, conical and clavate. GTs were divided into sessile and sub sessile capitate and large peltate. Using SEM and LM, significant variation was found in both quantitative and qualitative traits. Unique ornamentation was seen in the variety of trichomes. Unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA) cluster analysis and principal component analysis were used to describe, depict, and compare the quantitative foliar anatomical characters of all the species. A dichotomous key has been created for rapid and simple identification using qualitative characteristics. The current research adds to the systematic approach by accurately identifying Nepetoideae taxa and employing foliar anatomical traits.

The present study was carried out to investigate the palynoflora of Murree formation using microscopic techniques to understand the climatic changes and vegetation's evolution. In this palynological study, 31 samples were collected, analyzed, and then identified as palynomorphs using different previous published literature. The results of this study will be described in terms of the evolutionary history of plants and the depositional environment of the reported taxa in the study area. The botanical affinities and systematic description of the taxa were examined using light and scanning electron microscopy. The floral record identified Asteraceae as the dominant family and Pinus as a genus. Most of angiosperms i.e Fabaceae and Poaceae, have a poor fossil record but have an abundant palynological record in the study area. The highest polar diameter (75.75 μm), colpus length (34.5 μm) and colpus width (31 μm) were examined for the Convolvulus. Most of the taxa explained here had a wide geographical occurrence in Southeast Asia and show the abundance of angiosperms in the Miocene epoch. The palynological record of Holocene samples is important to know about the vegetation's origin and environmental fluctuations in the study area.