Abstract
Chromosome numbers in six species ofOphioglossum available in Poona and inHelminthostachys zeylanica L. obtained from Kerala are given.O. nudicaule L.,O. gramineum Willd.,O. pedunculosum Prantl (sensu non-Desv.) andO. fibrosum Schum. were found to haven=120 chromosomes.O. aitchisoni d’Alm. had 210–215 bivalents, andO. reticulatum L. hadn=420. Of these the chromosome number inO. peduculosum was not reported before. Meiotic cycle in this species showed some irregularities such as bridge formation in some cases at anaphase I.
The paper further discusses the significance of polyploidy observed inO. nudicaule and traces the evolutionary trends seen in the genus on the basis of the chromosome numbers. There exists some sort of correlation between the size of plants and their chromosome numbers. No variation in the number of chromosomes in different plants of the same species growing in different localities was observed.
On the basis of the chromosomal analysis, it seems thatO. nudicaule, O. gramineum group is more primitive andO. aitchisoni, O. reticulatum groups more advanced. This agrees with the conclusion drawn by one of us (Mahabalè, 1965) in this regard, on the basis of the morphology of species.
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Mahabalé, T.S., Nair, L.N. Cytology of some species of the Ophioglossaceae in India. Proc. Indian Acad. Sci. 75, 201–214 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03045368
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03045368