Samples of the dark remains of the cone fragment were removed using a sharpened needle and prepared for both scanning electron and light microscopy. For scanning electron microscopy (SEM), small pieces of the tissue were transferred to a carbon-covered SEM mount using a wet hair from a superfine brush. The stubs were sputtered with platinum–palladium (2 × 120 s at 20 mA, 10 nm coat thickness) using an automatic sputter coater (Canemco Inc.) and examined under a field emission scanning electron microscope (Carl Zeiss LEO 1530 Gemini).
For light microscopy (LM), the samples picked with needles were treated with Schultze solution (concentrated nitric acid saturated with a few potassium chlorate crystals added) and washed in distilled water, then treated with 4% ammonia and washed until neutral. The extracted material was then mounted on microscopy slides in glycerine jelly, and covered with a coverslip. These pollen preparations were observed with a transmitted light microscope (Carl Zeiss Axioscope A1) equipped with a Canon 450D digital camera, and are deposited with the source specimen (MB.Pb.1997/1246).
For light microscopy (LM), the samples picked with needles were treated with Schultze solution (concentrated nitric acid saturated with a few potassium chlorate crystals added) and washed in distilled water, then treated with 4% ammonia and washed until neutral. The extracted material was then mounted on microscopy slides in glycerine jelly, and covered with a coverslip. These pollen preparations were observed with a transmitted light microscope (Carl Zeiss Axioscope A1) equipped with a Canon 450D digital camera, and are deposited with the source specimen (MB.Pb.1997/1246).