Studies on the Chromosome Number in Alpine-plants. I

Abstract

1. In this paper which is the first report of the studies on the chromosome numbers in alpine-plants, the numbers of chromosomes obtained in 28 species of Japanese alpine-plants have been described and compared with those of non-alpine-plants of the same or related genera in order to get evidence as to the relation of ecological conditions to the number of chromosomes.
2. The results of the investigation is shown in Table 1. Coefficient of x means multiple of the corresponding basic chromosome number (x) already known in the related group. The numbers given in column 2n of the table are the somatic numbers of chromosomes counted in the root-tips of almost all of the plants studied.
3. A few genera in which no chromosome number has as yet been known, as far as the writer is aware, are described as multiples of the presumed basic number. These are put in parentheses in the table.
4. Among the alpine-plants studied, some have proved to be diploid, but the others such as Potentilla nivea L. var. asiatica Nakai, Astragalus secundus DC. and Pentstemon frutescens LAMB. have been found to be extremely highly polyploid.