2013 Volume 78 Issue 4 Pages 383-390
The present paper deals with meiotic studies on 31 populations covering nine species belonging to three genera of the family Caesalpiniaceae from different geographical areas of the Western Himalayas. Variable chromosome number reports for Cassia demidiata (2n=32) and C. mimosoides var. wallichiana (2n=32) world-wide and Caesalpinia decapetala (2n=22) in India have been added to the previous reports of these species. The course of meiosis varies from normal to abnormal in different populations of three species: Caesalpinia decapetala, Cassia fistula, and C. occidentalis. Meiotic abnormalities are in the form of cytomixis, chromosomal stickiness, and formation of laggards and bridges, all resulting in abnormal microsporogenesis. Heterogenously sized fertile pollen grains and reduced reproductive potentialities have invariably been observed in all the meiotically abnormal populations.
