Cytology of Polypetalous Plants: Cytology of Polypetalous Plants from the (Sirmaur) Western Himalayas, India

At present, cytomorphological studies have been carried out on 355 populations of 190 species belonging to 86 genera pertaining to 22 families of polypetalous group of Dicots. The intensive observations have been made on the members collected from different localities covering the wide altitudinal range. In all, new/varied chromosomal number reports are made for total of 58 species. Seven species have been cytologically worked out for the first time at world level. Similarly, new intraspecific cytotypes have been recorded for 25 species on world-wide basis. Three species are reported with B-chromosomes for the first time. From India, 15 species are cytologically worked out for the first time and 8 species are reported for new intraspecific cytotypes. Morphological variations are seen on the basis of flower colour in four species, as noted for Anemone obtusiloba, Astragalus chlorostachys, Geranium wallichianum and Meconopsis aculeata. Seven species exhibit intraspecific variability in the form of cytotypes with different chromosome numbers, also showing notable changes in some of the morphological characters of such plants, e.g. Agrimonia eupatoria, Bupleurum lanceolatum, Geum royle