Karyotype studies of nine species of Restrepia, Orchidaceae in Central America

Abstract

Total 14 individual plants of nine species of a New World orchidaceous genus Restrepia were karyomorphologically studied. The metaphase chromosomes of Restrepia, Subtribe Pleurothallidinae, Tribe Epidendreae, can be divided into three subgenera and furthermore, the subgenus Restrepia includes approximately 50 species that can be divided into two sections such as Restrepia and Pleurothallopsis. They are epiphytic species distributed from the lowlands to upper the moss, foggy, alpine forests in Mexico, Panama, Peru to Venezuela. They had such aneuploid chromosome numbers as: 2n=40, 42, 44, 46, 48, 50, 69, 70, and 77.