Abstract
Hyparrhenia involucrata Stapf is an annual with diploid, aneuploid, tetraploid and hexaploid chromosome races on a base of x= 10, whilst M. subplumosa Stapf is known to be tetraploid and perennial. The two species overlap considerably in their vegetative and floral attributes. Whilst the floral characteristics (such as number of awns and sex of imperfect flowers) are fairly constant within H. involucrata, they are quite variable in H. subplumosa: the evolutionary significance of some of these variations is discussed. Some of the observations on size, variability and fertility of pollen grains are interpreted using data from chromosome numbers and meiotic behaviour. Preliminary observations on the hybrids between a diploid race of H. involucrata and H. subplumosa indicate that the genomes of the two species are highly homologous and that perennial habit is a dominant trait controlled by a single gene.
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