page_title: Sporopollenin
hierarchical_section_title: Sporopollenin
caption_attribution_description: English: Pollen from a variety of common plants: sunflower (Helianthus annuus), morning glory Ipomoea purpurea, hollyhock (Sildalcea malviflora), lily (Lilium auratum), primrose (Oenothera fruticosa) and castor bean (Ricinus communis). The image is magnified some x500, so the bean shaped grain in the bottom left corner is about 50 μm long. Français&#160;: Pollens de quelques plantes courantes: Tournesol, Volubilis, Rose trémière (Sildalcea malviflora), lys (Lilium auratum), onagre (Oenothera fruticosa) et Ricin commun (Ricinus communis). Image aggrandie 500 fois&#160;: la particule en forme de grain de café dans le coin inférieur gauche mesure dans les 50 μm. Русский: Пыльца некоторых растений под микроскопом: подсолнечника однолетнего (Helianthus annuus), ипомеи пурпурной (Ipomoea purpurea), сидальцеи мальвоцветковой (Sildalcea malviflora), лилии золотистой (Lilium auratum), энотеры кустарниковой (Oenothera fruticosa) и клещевины обыкновенной (Ricinus communis). Изображение увеличено примерно в 500 раз.
context_page_description: Sporopollenin is one of the most chemically inert biological polymers. It is a major component of the tough outer walls of plant spores and pollen grains. It is chemically very stable and is usually well preserved in soils and sediments. The exine layer is often intricately sculptured in species-specific patterns, allowing material recovered from lake sediments to provide useful information to palynologists about plant and fungal populations in the past. Sporopollenin has found uses in the field of paleoclimatology as well. Sporopollenin is also found in the cell walls of several taxa of green alga, including Phycopeltis and Chlorella.
  Spores are dispersed by many different environmental factors, such as wind, water or animals. If the conditions are suitable the sporopollenin-impregnated walls of pollen grains and spores can persist in the fossil record for hundreds of millions of years, since sporopollenin is resistant to chemical degradation by organic and inorganic chemicals.
context_section_description: Sporopollenin is one of the most chemically inert biological polymers. It is a major component of the tough outer (exine) walls of plant spores and pollen grains. It is chemically very stable and is usually well preserved in soils and sediments. The exine layer is often intricately sculptured in species-specific patterns, allowing material recovered from (for example) lake sediments to provide useful information to palynologists about plant and fungal populations in the past. Sporopollenin has found uses in the field of paleoclimatology as well. Sporopollenin is also found in the cell walls of several taxa of green alga, including Phycopeltis (an ulvophycean) and Chlorella.
  Spores are dispersed by many different environmental factors, such as wind, water or animals. If the conditions are suitable the sporopollenin-impregnated walls of pollen grains and spores can persist in the fossil record for hundreds of millions of years, since sporopollenin is resistant to chemical degradation by organic and inorganic chemicals.
caption: SEM image of pollen grains
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