2018 Volume 83 Issue 4 Pages 369-374
The present study deals with chromosome variability and meiotic abnormalities present in Asplenium trichomanes L., a well-known medicinal fern. The meiotic analysis of spore mother cells (SMCs) on population basis covering wide altitudinal habitats revealed diploid (n=36) and tetraploid (n=72) cytotypes. The observation of meiotic abnormalities, their relative comparison of spore size and stomatal size, and their distribution in Kashmir Himalayas revealed a difference of these cytotypes. Significant differences in the two cytotypes were found in the sizes of spore and stomata, and distributions. Compared to the restricted distribution of the diploid cytotype, the tetraploid cytotype is common in distribution and found at various altitudes in Kashmir forests. Irregular meiotic behaviors in some SMCs were observed as the presence of stickiness, unoriented bivalents, laggards, bridges, interbivalent connections, non-synchronous disjunction in both cytotypes. The formation of triads and polyads seem to lead spore sterility.
