Abstract
Karyotype study was performed in 23 populations of nine Silene species belonging to the section Sclerocalycinae growing in Iran. The species studied were diploid (2n=2x=24) and tetraploid (2n=4x=48). The highest value of total and mean haploid chromosome length occurred in the Kerman 2 population of S. stapfii, while the lowest value of the same parameters occurred in the Kerman population of S. shahrudensis. ANOVA and LSD tests showed a significant difference for total size of the chromosomes and size of the short and long arms among the species studied, indicating the role of quantitative genomic changes in the Silene species diversification. A positive significant correlation was observed between total chromosome length, mean chromosome length, size of the longest chromosome, size of the shortest chromosome and A1 index of Romero-Zarco, while total chromosome length showed negative significant correlation with TF%, indicating that lower values of total chromosome length occur in the species having more symmetrical karyotypes (higher TF%), while higher values occur in asymmetric karyotypes (higher A1 values). The species studied differed in their karyotype formulae, indicating the occurrence of structural changes in their chromosomes
