Abstract
THE basic chromosome number of Poa is 7. Of the New Zealand species so far examined, the majority are tetraploid (4x = 28) and one species is 12-ploid (12x = 84). A much higher number has now been found in plants of Poa litorosa Cheesem., collected in the Auckland Islands. Preparations of mitosis show 263–265 chromosomes (Fig. 1) and the species is therefore approximately 38-ploid. So far as we are aware, this is the highest chromosome number yet recorded in the Gramineae or in the Monocotyledons as a whole. Studies of meiosis and of the breeding system have yet to be undertaken.
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HAIR, J., BEUZENBERG, E. High Polyploidy in a New Zealand Poa . Nature 189, 160 (1961). https://doi.org/10.1038/189160a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/189160a0
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