Abstract:Pollen morphology of38taxa of Loranthaceae from China，and of eigh
t taxa from Indone-sia and Australia was examined under light microscope（LM）a
nd scanning electron microscope（SEM）. Based on exine ornamentation characterist
ics，Loranthaceae can be subdivided into two groups that are consistent with the
two tribes in the family: Elytrantheae and Lorantheae. In the tribe Elytrantheae，
pollen grains with3-syncolpate aperture and exine of blunt-tipped spines and str
iate ornamentation may represent the primitive type while those with diplocolpor
ate and diplosyn-demicolpate apertures are of derived nature. In the tribe Loran
theae，pollen grains with isopolarity，3-syncolpate apertures，and granulate exi
ne ornamentation may represent the primitive type，while those with heteropolari
ty，parasyndemicolpate-syndemicolpate，3-colpate and colpate-brevicolpate or por
ate apertures，scabrate and indistinctly granulate ornamentation represent the d
erived state. Pollen data suggest three basic groups in the tribe Lorantheae acco
rding to the aperture and ornamen-tation characteristics: Group I is composed of
Dendrophtho，Scurrula，Taxillus，and Tolypanthus;Group II and Group III contain
only Helixanthera and Loranthus respectively. Group I is relatively primitive in
terms of pollen morphology. Among genera in Group I，there are only insignifican
t dif-ferences in pollen morphology between Taxillus and Scurrula，two genera w
ith a close relationship;both Group II and Group III are relatively derived in t
erms of pollen morphology.