SUMMARYThe basic karyotype of Rye (Secale cereale L.) has been analysed with several fluorochromes and with a Giemsa staining technique. Only the fluorochrome Hoechst 33258 and the Giemsa technique were successful in differentiating the heterochromatic segments.Five cultivated varieties were studied. In the haploid set there are 11 large and two small terminally located bands, four small intercalary bands and a variable band adjacent to the nucleolar constriction on chromosome VII which are constant for all varieties. Five more very small intercalary bands occur sporadically in all the varieties. All the chromosomes possess thin centromeric bands.