Data Analysis

The goal of this experiment was to compare the structure of pollen in different species of Lilies.

We observed pollen grains from 3 different types of Lilies, Calla Lilies, Asian Lilies, and Day Lilies.
Each pollen grain is roughly the same size:
Calla Lilies: 110um
Asian Lilies: 109um
Day Lilies: (slightly larger) 124um

Both Asian Lilies and Day Lilies have an oval shaped pollen grain, while Calla Lilies have an almost trapezoidal pollen grain. HOWEVER, this could be due to damaged/crushed pollen.

Another noticeable difference is the presence of a fold down the middle of the Asian Lily pollen grain. This appears to be the aperture.
The Calla Lily also has this feature, but on the side of the grain.

The surface texture of each grain is also different.
The pollen from the Day Lily and the Asian Lily both  have a Reticulate surface texture while, the pollen from the Calla Lily is has a Verrucate surface texture.

Our original phylogenic tree that was based on pollen morphology matches the tree generated by rbcL comparison. This shows that the Calla Lily and the Asian Lily both share a later common ancestor. Our hypothesis was shown to be correct based on this data.