Abstract
Pollen grains of ten species of
Kickxia
(Plantaginaceae, previously assigned to Scrophulariaceae), two species of
Scrophularia
(Scrophulariaceae) and one species of genus
Plantago
(Plantaginaceae) in Saudi Arabia were studied using both light and scanning electron microscopy. The most obvious findings in
Plantago major
are: Pantoporate pollen class (5–9), pollen shape class prolate—spheroidal, a polar, pollen shape—circular, circumaperture, apocolpium—absent, aperture type—annular and pollen wall sculpture—verrucate. This result showed that
Plantago major
was separated by their pollen morphological characteristics away from the other two studied genera. This result supports some taxonomic views of some scientists in maintaining
Plantago
species in a separate monogeneric family (Plantaginaceae) and keeping
Kickxia
and
Scrophularia
within the Scrophulariaceae family.