The diversity of melliferous flora has a substantial impact on keeping buzzing apiaries and in beekeeping research to make large quantities of high-grade honey. The study aimed to evaluate the pollen morphology of 15 melliferous plant species of the family Asteraceae collected from different localities of district Karak by using light microscopy. After the microscopic slides had been prepared, LM techniques were used to evaluate and describe both quantitative and qualitative characteristics. Qualitative traits include polar diameter, equatorial diameter, P/L ratio, collar dimension, exine density, and rachis length, while qualitative traits include pollen, pollen shape, maturation, and sculpture. The dominant pollen shape was oblate-spheroidal reported in six species followed by prolate-spheroidal, sub-prolate, and prolate. The exine sculpturing also varies from scabrate to micro-echinate where the dominant surface pattern was recorded as echinate. The pollen type ranges from tricolporate to hexacolporate. The highest P/E ratio was observed in Lactuca serriola (2.2). The findings of this study offer careful suggestions to improve the local honeybee flora and aid in the accurate identification of melliferous flora for the continued development of beekeeping practices.
Filimban et al. (Sun,) studied this question.