The chromosome counts and pollen assemblages of a range of British pansies are given. With the exception of what is believed to be an aberrant count for Viola nana Corb. (V. kitaibeliana in Dandy, 1958), the chromosome counts confirm those cited by past workers. The polymorphic pollen assemblages which can be characterized by the most abundant grain type and the associated subsidiary types show that the taxa can be divided into two main groups. In the case of the two variable and often confused species, V. tricolor and V. arvensis, differences in their pollen assemblages confirm their separation on the basis of chromosome counts and such is the agree ment between the two criteria that the former should be a reliable criterion for the separation of the two taxa.
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