Comparing Lilies with Collards

We have scoured every blog with pictures of pollen, and much to our surprise, there is only one plant with the same qualities as our lilies: the collard greens, or Brassica oleracea.
  (Credit to Izzie Valle, Rebecca France, Takumi Herbert, and Race Stewart for both using this plant, and taking the following photos.)
This is what the collard greens look like:





Now that we have a plant that has a similar pollen, to answer our question, we have to determine whether or not it is closely related to lilies, genus Lilium.
We used the website uniprot.org to tell us where they connect in their lineage.
They both belong to the group, Mesangiospermae, which is one of four clades of angiosperms; it contains 99.5% of all flowering plants.  They have no further connections.  Based off of this information, we cannot say that lilies and collards are very closely related, as they are not more related than almost any other flower.
Likeness of pollen does not imply relatedness.

Living Plants

Here are pictures of the three flowers we investigated while they are alive. 

Asian Lily

Lilum amabile

Photo Credit

Day Lily

Hemerocallis lilioasphodelus 

Photo Credit

Easter Lily

Lilium longiflorum

Photo Credit

Light Microscope Photos

Below are photos of the Asian, Day, and Easter Lilies' pollen using a standard light microscope at 400X magnification.

Asian Lily

Lilium amabile

Day Lily

Hemerocallis lilioasphodelus

Easter Lily

Lilum longiflorum

At 400X, similarities and differences become more pronounced.  All three share similar textures, as can be seen with the SEM photos at 2000x. The shape, ovular, is also similar between the three. The Easter lily seems to have a slightly different texture, with more space in the reticulate structure. None the less, this difference is only slight

Comparing Eastern Lily to Lilac & Rosemary

We noticed the visual similarities between our Lily and another group's Lilac Pollen, and have compared their genetic make up.

TR|U5KCE6|U5KCE6_LILLO MNEPPGARMRVGLTALTMAEYFRDVNEQDVLLFIDNIFRFVQAGSEVSALLGRMPSAVGY 300
TR|G8D5A6|G8D5A6_SYRVU -----SVGFKAGVKEYKLTYYTPQYETKDTDIL--AAFRVT-------PQPGVPPEEAGA 46
                            .. ::.*:.  .:: *  : : :*. ::    **..          *  *. .* 

TR|U5KCE6|U5KCE6_LILLO QPTLSTEMGSLQERITSTKEGSITSIQAVYVPADDLTDPAPAATFAHLDATTVLSRGLAA 360
TR|G8D5A6|G8D5A6_SYRVU AVAAESST---------------------------------------GTWTTVWTDGLTS 67
                         : .:.                                           *** : **::

TR|U5KCE6|U5KCE6_LILLO KGIYP----AVDPLDSTSTMLQPRIVGEEHYEIAQRVK-QTSQRYKELQDIIAILGLDEL 415
TR|G8D5A6|G8D5A6_SYRVU LDRYKGRCYHIEPVPGEADQY----ICYVAYPLDLFEEGSVTNMFTSI--VGNVFGFKA- 120
                          *      ::*: . :       :    * :    : ..:: :..:  :  ::*:.  

TR|U5KCE6|U5KCE6_LILLO SEEDRLTVARARKIERFLSQPFFVAEVFTGSPGKYVALAETIKGFQLILSGE-L---DGL 471
TR|G8D5A6|G8D5A6_SYRVU --------LRALRLEDLRIPPAYI-KTFQGPPHGIQVERDKLNKYGRPLLGCTIKPKLGL 171
                                ** ::* :   * :: :.* * *    .  :.:: :   * *  :    **

TR|U5KCE6|U5KCE6_LILLO PEQAFYLVGNIDEATAKAMNLEGESNLKK---------- 500
TR|G8D5A6|G8D5A6_SYRVU SAKNY------G--RAVYECLRGGLDFTKDDENVNSQPF 202

                         : :          *    *.*  ::.*          

As you can see there are not many similarities between Eastern Lily and Lilac, although they are both reticulate, Lilac is a dicoplate pollen and Lily is Monolete. 

There were more similarities between Andromeda and Lily, As they are both reticulate and monolete

TR|U5KCE6|U5KCE6_LILLO -------------------MRINP------TTSGLGVGVST-------LEEKNLGRIAQI 28
TR|Q9TIE1|Q9TIE1_ANDPO KLTYYTPNYETKDTDILAAFRVTPQPGVPPEEAGAAVAAESSTGTWTTVWTDGLTSLDRY 60
                                          :*:.*        :* .*...:       :  . *  : : 

TR|U5KCE6|U5KCE6_LILLO IGPVLDV-------------------VFPPGKMPNIYNALVVKGRDTVGPQINVTCEVQQ 69
TR|Q9TIE1|Q9TIE1_ANDPO KGRCYHIEPVPGDENQYIAYVAYPLDLFEEGSVTNMFTSIV-----------------GN 103
                        *   .:                   :*  *.: *::.::*                  :

TR|U5KCE6|U5KCE6_LILLO LLGNNRVRAVAMSATDGLMRGMEVIDTGTPLSVPVGGATLGRIFNVLGEPVDNLGPVDTR 129
TR|Q9TIE1|Q9TIE1_ANDPO VFGFKALRALRLEDLRIPVA-YVKTFQGPPHGIQVER----------------------- 139
                       ::* : :**: :.     :        * * .: *                         

TR|U5KCE6|U5KCE6_LILLO TTSPIHRSAPAFIQLDTKLSIFETGIKVVDLLAPYRRGGKIGLFGGAGVGKTVLIMELIN 189
TR|Q9TIE1|Q9TIE1_ANDPO --------------------------------------DKLNKYGRPLLGCTI------- 154
                                                              *:  :*   :* *:       

TR|U5KCE6|U5KCE6_LILLO NIAKAHGGVSVFGGVGERT-REGNDLYMEMKESGVINEKNIAESKVALVYGQMNEPPGAR 248
TR|Q9TIE1|Q9TIE1_ANDPO -----------KPKLGLSAKNYGRAVYEC------------------------------- 172
                                     :*  : . *. :*                                 

TR|U5KCE6|U5KCE6_LILLO MRVGLTALTMAEYFRDVNEQDVLLFI-------DNIFRFVQAGSEVSALLGRMPSAVGYQ 301
TR|Q9TIE1|Q9TIE1_ANDPO LRGGL---DFTKDDENVNSQPFMRWRDRFLFCAEAIFKAQA---ETGEIKGHYLNA---- 222
                       :* **    :::  .:**.* .: :        : **:      *.. : *:  .*    

TR|U5KCE6|U5KCE6_LILLO PTLSTEMGSLQERITSTKEGSITSIQAVYVPADDLTDPAPAATFA-------HLD--ATT 352
TR|Q9TIE1|Q9TIE1_ANDPO --TAGTCDEMNKRAVFARELGVPIIMHDYLTGG-FTANTSLAEYCRDNGLLLHIHRAMHA 279
                          :    .:::* . ::* .:  *   *: .  :*  :  * :.       *:.    :

TR|U5KCE6|U5KCE6_LILLO VLSRGLAAKGIYPAVDPLDSTSTMLQPRIVGEEHYEIAQRVKQTSQRYKELQDIIAILGL 412
TR|Q9TIE1|Q9TIE1_ANDPO VIDRQ-KNHGIHFR-------VLAKALRMSGGDHIHAGTVVGKLEG------EREITLGF 325
                       *:.*    :**:               *: * :* . .  * : .       :    **:

TR|U5KCE6|U5KCE6_LILLO DELSEEDRLTVARARKIERFLSQPFFVAEVFTGSPGKYVALAETIKGFQLILSGELDGLP 472
TR|Q9TIE1|Q9TIE1_ANDPO VDLLRDDYIEKDRGR--------GIYFSQDWVSLPGVLPVASGGIHVWHMPALTEIFGDD 377
                        :* .:* :   *.*         ::.:: :.. **   . :  *: :::    *: *  

TR|U5KCE6|U5KCE6_LILLO EQAFYL-------VGNIDEATAKAM---------------NLEGESNLKK---------- 500
TR|Q9TIE1|Q9TIE1_ANDPO SVLQFGGGTLGHPWGNPPGAVANRVALEACVQARNEGRDLAREGNDIIREAGQWSNELSA 437
                       .   :         **   *.*: :                 **:. :::          

Scientific name, pollen type, and surface texture data found at this group's blog

SEM Photos and Data Table

We used a scanning electron microscope to take photos of three different lilies: the Asian Lily, Day Lily, and Easter Lily.  We included a picture of the pollen with highlighted apertures, colored with Seashore, and a picture at high magnification to show texture. This is what we found:

Asian Lily
Lilium amabile

Day Lily
Hemerocallis lilioasphodelus

Easter Lily

Lilium longiflorum

Pollen Data Table

Common Name	Scientific Name	Pollen Length x Width (μm)	Pollen Type	Number of Apertures	Surface Texture
Asian Lily	Lilium amabile	91.6 x 47.9	Monolete	One	Reticulate
Day Lily	Hemerocallis lilioasphodelus	131.0 x 50.5	Monolete	One	Reticulate
Easter Lily	Lilium longiflorum	78.8 x 41.2	Monolete	One	Reticulate

As you can see, lilies' pollens are reticulate monoletes.  To answer our question, we will have to explore both the identity of these flowers and other reticulate monoletes; fortunately, we will be able to use pictures from other peoples' blogs to compare their likeness.  We already know that Lilacs are very similar in appearance.  When we find more pollens that look like ours, we will post their pictures as well, and say whether or not they are closely related.

The Dissecting Microscope Photos

Below are images of the pollen of Asian, Day, and Eastern Lilies at 35x using a dissecting microscope:

Asian Lily
Lilum amabile

Day Lily

Hemerocallis lilioasphodelus 

Easter Lily

Lilium longiflorum

At 35x, it is hard to perceive similarities and differences between the three pollens, and any observations can be superficial at best.  However, those observations should still be made. The pollens were all granular and a brownish yellow color, but it seems that the pollens of the Day and Easter lilies were more similar, upon observation