title: New chromosome reports in Lamiaceae of Kashmir (Northwest Himalaya), India.
abstract: Meiotic studies and chromosome data are imperative in order to have an overall germplasm evaluation of a taxon. In the present effort, the meiotic study is carried out in 48 populations belonging to 26 species of Lamiaceae collected from their natural habitats in Kashmir Himalaya, which forms an important part of Northwest Himalaya. Chromosome counts in the five species viz. Dracocephalum nutans (2n = 10), Lycopus europaeus (2n = 22), Marrubium vulgare (2n = 54), Nepeta nervosa (2n = 18) and Salvia sclarea (2n = 22) are first time reported from India. Besides, 17 species are cytologically evaluated for the first time from the study area-Kashmir Himalaya. In Marrubium vulgare, hexaploid cytotype (2n = 6 × =54) is reported for the first time. Also, diploid and tetraploid cytomorphovariants are observed in Calamintha vulgaris (2n = 20, 40), Elsholtzia ciliata (2n = 16, 32) and Mentha longifolia (2n = 20, 40). Various meiotic abnormalities like chromatin stickiness, cytomixis, nonsynchronous disjunction, laggards, chromatin bridges, etc. leading to pollen abnormalities have been documented for the first time in some species. The worldwide status of chromosome number data in each genus is presented.
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany, Punjabi University, Patiala, 147002, India. malik_reyaz@rediffmail.com.
authors.forename: Reyaz Ahmad
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Malik
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany, Punjabi University, Patiala, 147002, India.
authors.forename: Raghbir Chand
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany, Punjabi University, Patiala, 147002, India.
authors.forename: Vijay
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany, Punjabi University, Patiala, 147002, India.
authors.forename: Santosh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bala
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany, Punjabi University, Patiala, 147002, India.
authors.forename: Santosh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kumari
mesh_terms: D032461:Chromosomes, Plant / Q000235:genetics*; D007194:India; D019686:Lamiaceae / Q000235:genetics*; D008540:Meiosis; D011003:Ploidies; D011058:Pollen / Q000166:cytology; D013045:Species Specificity
keywords: Chromosome number; Cytomixis; Kashmir Himalaya; Lamiaceae; Meiotic abnormalities; Pollen viability; Stickiness