New Cytotype of Crocus pallasii sub sp. haussknechtii from West of Iran

C. pallasii is one of the close relatives of C. sativus. A new cytotype of this species was discovered from west of Iran (Reno valley & Islamabad-e-Gharb). For karyotype studies, Lewitsky fixative and aceto-iron-hematoxylin stain were used. Karyotype of this cytotype with 2n=12 consists of one large pair of metacentric chromosomes with a satellite in the long arm, one pair of large submetacentrics, two pairs of smaller submetacentrics and two smallest pairs, which are metacentrics. This plant cytogenetically is very similar to C. pallasii subsp. turcicus (2n=12) and also C. pallasii subsp. haussknechtii with 2n=14 chromosomes. However C. p. subsp. haussknechtii with 16 chromosomes is considerably different from these two cytotypes. It seems that during evolution new cytotype with 2n=12 derived from C. p. subsp. haussknechtii with 2n=14.

Keywords:

aceto-iron-hematoxylin , chromosome , Crocus sativus , evolution , karyotype