were once widely viewed as the most primitive living angiosperms, the discovery of this diversity stimulated much research on annonaceous pollen by botanists interested in the original pollen morphology of angiosperms and its early diversification. As a result of molecular phylogenetic analyses (reviewed by Soltis et al., 2005), which root the phylogenetic tree of angiosperms near Amborella Baill., Magnoliales now appear to have less bearing on the ancestral pollen type (Doyle, 2005). However, the diverse pollen of Annonaceae is still significant as a conspicuous aspect of the evolutionary radiation of the family and a source of systematic characters within it