Karyomorphological Studies on Halophytic Plants

I. Some taxa of Chenopodium

Abstract

1. Karyomorphological studies were carried out in halophytic and nonhalophytic Chenopodium.
2. Halophytic C. glaucum was dipolid with n=9, 2n=18; semi-halophytic C. acuminatum var. japonicum was tetraploid with n=18, 2n=36, non-halophytic C. album was hexaploid with n=27, 2n=54, C. album var. centrorubrum hexaploid with 2n=54, and C. ambrosioides var. pubescens n=16, 2n=32.
3. The five taxa were found to have similar karyomorphological features categorized into the same ‘simple chromocenter type’ at resting stage, proximal and gradient heterochromatic type at prophase, and homogeneous type in size and symmetric type in arm-ratio at metaphase.
4. Morphological features of chromosomes were found to be correlated to the phylogenetic interrelationships in taxa, while no particular feature was found in relation to halophytic habit, except for polyploidy.
5. It was proposed that the morphological features of the chromosomes appear not as the product of adaptive reaction to the environmental conditions but as the product of phylogenetic reaction.