Male meiosis, sporad analysis and pollen viability in a threatened medicinal plant Oroxylum indicum (L.) Kurz

Abstract

Oroxylum indicum (L.) Kurz a well know and pharmaceutically well explored medicinal plant of the family Bignoniaceae but in the context of cytological work, meagre information is available on same plant. During present investigation six accessions of O. indicum were studied for understanding male meiosis and related events using standard techniques. Although, the meiotic course was found to be regular, anomalies such as chromosomal stickiness and unequal distribution of chromosomes existed in trace percentage and when compared, meiosis- II was found to be more disturbed than meiosis-I. The presence of monads, dyads, triads, and the sporads with micronuclei were common, although in low frequency. Significantly, in spite of chromosomal anomalies and abnormal tetrad formation, the pollens were healthy and viable. The variable values of analyzed cytological parameters among different types (morphs) of stamens suggested a prevalence of cytological dimorphism along with morphological dimorphism in O. indicum.