2010 Volume 75 Issue 3 Pages 313-318
Poa annua L. (family Poaceae) is a cosmopolitan, cytologically variable and apomictic species. At present, cytomorphological studies have been carried out for North-Indian materials on 29 populations from Haryana (North Indian plains), Shiwalik hills and Kangra (H.P.) covering different altitudinal ranges (216–1489 m) of relatively unexplored areas. All the 29 populations are found to be tetraploid with n=14. Morphologically, plants of all the populations looked similar without any significant variation but cytologically speaking, among these, 24 populations show normal meiotic course whereas 4 populations show abnormal meiosis in the form of bridges, laggards, etc. The phenomenon of cytomixis has also been studied in 1 population. The variable number of B-chromosomes (1–3B) has been reported in some of the populations.