Morphology and cytology of Cicer canariense, a wild relative of chickpea

Abstract

The short note describes the morphology and chromosome number of Cicer canariense Santos Guerra & Lewis. This taxon has been found to have a meiotic chromosome number of 2n<16 and not 2n<24, as reported earlier. At ICRISAT Center, while other perennial Cicers did not perform well, Cicer canariense flowered and produced seeds. The species grew vigorously and had multi-podded peduncles and multi-seeded pods. Such traits of Cicer canariense can be very useful in the genetic improvement of chickpeas.