Morphometric Analysis and Meiotic Behavior in 4x and 6x Cytotypes of Achyranthes aspera L. from North India

Abstract

Achyranthes aspera, known as Latjeer, is a medicinally as well as an economically important plant and shows a lot of cytomorphological diversity. Keeping this status in consideration, the present attempt was made to study the detailed meiotic course in 12 plants of A. aspera collected from different areas of North India. The meiotic analysis depicts the presence of two cytotypes with 2n=28 and 42. The chromosome number of 2n=42 confirms the previous reports whereas the 2n=28 is a new chromosome number. The meiotic behavior in 4x and 6x plants may suggest their allopolyploid nature.