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Fimbristylis comprises about 300 species (Willis 1966). Compared to the size of this taxon the cytological information available is scanty (Tanaka 1937, 1939, Dnyansagar and Tiwari 1956, Sharma 1962, Sharma and Bal 1956, Chuang et al . 1963, Gadella and Kliphuis 1964, Baquar 1969, Murin and Chaudhri 1970, Mehra and Sachdeva 1971, Sanyal and Sharma 1972, Nijalingappa 1972, 1973. The present contribution deals with cytological studies of 13 species from southern India. Material and methodsThe plants were collected near Bannerghatta and Bhadravati (Mysore State). The voucher specimens have been deposited in the Herbarium of the Department of Botany, Bangalore University, Bangalore. For the study of somatic chromosomes root tip squash preparations were made adopting the technique of Tjio and Levan (1950). Several metaphase plates were examined for each species, and the one with well spread chromosomes was selected for photomicrography, drawing and measure ments. For meiotic studies spikelets were fixed in acetic-alcohol (1: 3) for 24 hours and anthers were squashed in acetocarmine. These preparations were made permanent by using n-butyl alcohol-acetic acid series. Results A. Karyotypes

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Sharma and Bat (1956) and Sanyal and Sharma (1972) studied the cytology of Fimbristylis ovata (=F. monostachya (L.) Hassk.) from northern India. In the course of cytological investigations of the species of Fimbristylis from southern India, 2 populations of F. ovata (Burm. f.) Kern with different chromosome numbers have been encountered (Nijalingappa 1972). The present contribution deals with the karyotype and meiosis of the 2 populations. Materials and methodsThe materials were collected from Bangalore (Coll. No. F-150) and also from Dharwar (Coll. No. F-196) situated about 420km north west of Bangalore. For the study of somatic chromosomes, root tip squash preparations were made following Tjio and Levan's (1950) aceto-orcein method. Several metaphase plates were examined from different temporary preparations, and those with well spread chromosomes were selected for karyotype analysis. For meiotic studies, spikelets were fixed in acetic-alcohol (1:3) for 24 hours and young anthers were then squashed in acetocarmine. The Voucher specimens have been deposited in the