Meiotic studies in diff erent populations of Achyranthes bidentata Blume from western Himalaya, India

Abstract

The present investigation involves the meiotic studies on 11 populations of Achyranthes bidentata Blume (family Amaranthaceae) from western Himalaya, India. The cytological analysis revealed the existence of two cytotypes i. e. plants with chromosome number 2n=42 and 2n=84 based on base number x=7. Among the presently investigated plants, meiotic course was abnormal in hexaploid populations while was normal in the dodecaploid populations. It is first report of cytomixis in Achyranthes bidentata Blume. Morphological analysis revealed three distinct morphotypes among these populations i.e. green stem green bracteoles, green stem purplish bracteoles and purplish stem green bracteoles.