Karyological Study on Bellevalia and Muscari (Liliaceae) Species of Iran

A karyomorphological study on the genus Muscari Mill. growing in Kahramanmaraş (Turkey)

“…Azizi et al (2016) reported the karyotype of M. comosum as 2n = 2x = 18 = 2t + (1m + 1sm) + 14m, while Ruiz Rejon et al (1990) reported its karyotype as 2n = 2x = 18 = 14m + 2sm + 2t. Two populations of this species are constituted by different karyotype formulae as 2n = 2x = 18 = 3m + 2sm + 4st and 2n = 2x = 18 = 2m + 4sm + 3st (Jafari et al, 2008). In our study, the chromosome numbers of the species from a population were identified as 2n = 2x = 18 = 10m + 6sm + 2st, which is consistent with literature values.…”

“…However, the karyotype formulae of the populations were different from those of previous studies. Jafari et al (2008) reported the karyotype of M. tenuiflorum from two populations as 2n = 2x = 18 = 5m + 3sm + 1st (diploid) and as 2n = 3x = 27 = 1m + 5sm + 2st + 1t. In our study, the chromosome numbers of the species from a population were identified as 2n = 2x = 18 = 8m + 6sm + 4st.…”

“…Jafari et al (2008) determined the karyotype formulae of the species as 2x = 2n -1 = 53 = 13m + 11 sm + 2st + t = 23m + 3sm = 21m + 5 sm = 16m + 9 sm + t in four populations, as 2x = 2n+3 = 48 = 16m + 7 sm = 13m + 9 sm + st = 17m + 5sm + st in three populations (aneuploidy), as 2n = 2x = 45 = 17m + 5sm + st in a population (autopentaploid), and 2n = 2x = 36 = 14m + 3sm in a population (tetraploid). However, several populations of M. neglectum from European Turkey studied by Dalgıç (1991) were polyploid.…”

“…In our study, the scatter plot presents three groups of populations. The populations of M. comosum showed a high asymmetry index value with a high level of karyotype asymmetry (Figure 4) (Jafari et al, 2008). Polyploidy is one of the main evolutionary mechanisms promoting genetic diversity and speciation in plants (Stebbins, 1950;Grant, 1971).…”

In Vitro Bulb Regeneration from Stem Explants of Endemic Geophyt Muscari aucheri (Boiss.) Baker

“…The genus Muscari Mill. includes nearly 61 taxa distributed in the world and its members mostly occur in the whole Mediterranean basin as far as the Caucasus, temperate Europe, North of Africa and South West of Asia [2]. In Flora of Turkey Muscari has about 30 taxa and the endemism rate in this genus is consequently very high, about 60% [3].…”