Karyotypic Studies on Certain Members of Cyperaceae from Punjab, North West India

Abstract

Karyotypic studies on 10 species of sedges from North India showed that (i) there is no correlation between the number of chromosomes and haploid chro-matin length, (ii) by and large, the karyotypes are symmetrical, and (iii) in case of Fimbristylis dichotoma there is great variation in karyomorphology of individuals of various populations with the same chromosome numbers n=5 or 10. This brings to light the evolution that is operative at micro level and possibly this explains the variations in phenotypic characters so common in sedges which have the advan-tage of stabilizing of new genotypes through vegetative propagation.