Why do we need a Pollen Terminology?

A terminology, the totality of conventions describing features, has always been an indispensable basis in the descriptive sciences. In order to compare and to categorize pollen features, a common language and a common understanding of technical terms is necessary.

Categories are artificial and always delimited by an individual or collective convention. Categorization also greatly depends on the technical equipment and method(s) used, as well as on the subjective interpretation of pollen character(s).

In 2009, the book “Pollen Terminology. An illustrated handbook”, was published by our pollen research group, based on major works and studies on Palynology (e.g., Punt et al. 1994, 2007). Our objective was a critical revision of pollen terms in order to standardize them. The pollen terms described in the book are the common language in PalDat 3.0.

For more information and help see “Our book” and “Tools for Pollen Description”.