Cytogenetic studies in the genus Narcissus L. VII. Karyotype and nucleolar condition in some N. pseudonarcissus L. cultivars.

Abstract

Karyological studies were made in 5 cultivars of N. pseudonarcissus; ‘Telamonius Plenus’ (2n=14, 28), ‘Golden Spur’ (2n=21), ‘Emperor’ (2n=21), ‘Empress’ (2n=21+1B) and ‘Beersheba’ (2n=29). The basic set of 7 chromsomes bears broad similarity among these cultivars. Of the 6 long elements, 4 are submetacentric while the other 2 range between submetacentric and acrocentric. The short chromosome is submetacentric and satellited. Except in ‘Golden Spur’, where one triplet is heteromorphic, all the cultivars have homomorphic karyotypes. Diploid ‘Telamonius Plenus’, 3x ‘Golden Spur’ and 4x ‘Beersheba’ have 2, 3 and 4 satellited chromosomes respectively, whereas ‘Emperor’ and ‘Empress’, both 3x, have only one. The number of nucleoli at interphase matches with the number of SAT-chromosomes in ‘Telamonius Plenus’ and ‘Golden Spur’. ‘Emperor’ and ‘Empress’, however, have 2 and 3 additional, though vary small, nucleoli respectively.