Abstract
THE action of colchicine on plant nuclei has been studied in stamen hairs of Tradescantia reflexa. Ovaries with attached filaments from which the pollen sacks had been removed were submerged in a salt sugar solution in which checks will survive more than 48 hours. Colchicine in concentrations ranging from 2 × 10-4 M. to 6 × 10-2 M. inhibits spindle formation and thus prevents anaphase. The drug slows down, but does not inhibit, the normal chromatin changes. Thus the split metaphase chromosomes commence to shorten and swell. Chromonemata become visible within them. Gradually they assume interphase structure. Meanwhile, chromosomes may have assumed various positions within the cell. Single chromosomes or groups of few chromosomes may have separated from the main group. The reconstruction of the amphidiploid colchicine nucleus thus at first leads to an irregular contour, which is gradually lost ; micronuclei may be formed.
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