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Intraspecific floral morphotypes in six high altitude perennial herbaceous species from northwest Himalaya: their chromosome counts, meiotic behavior and pollen fertility

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Abstract

Exploratory surveys were carried out in the high altitude areas of the northwest Indian Himalaya to analyze and appraise the cytomorphological diversity among the wild flowering plants. During the random exploratory surveys, we found morphological variations in six species viz., Dianthus angulatus Royle ex Benth. (Caryophyllaceae), Geranium wallichianum D. Don ex Sweet (Geraniaceae), Gypsophila cerastioides D. Don (Caryophyllaceae), Impatiens thomsonii Hook.f. (Balsaminaceae), Ranunculus hirtellus Royle (Ranunculaceae) and Thalictrum foetidum L. Variation in the colour of flowers is the main difference in these species. We also investigated chromosome number, male meiosis and pollen fertility in these species. An attempt has also been made to find out the existence of any variation in chromosome number in these floral-morphotypes.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the Head, the Department of Botany, Punjabi University, Patiala, and Dr. P. Singh, Director, Botanical Survey of India, Headquarters Kolkata; and the Joint Director Dr. SK Srivastava, NRC, Dehradun for providing necessary laboratory, Herbarium (PUN, BSD), and library facilities. This study was supported by the DRS SAP I, II & III, ASIST programme, and D.S. Kothari Post-Doctoral Fellowship {Award Letter No. F.4-2/2006 (BSR)/13-427/2011(BSR)} to senior author.

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  1. Botanical Survey of India, Northern Regional Centre, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, 248 195, India

    Puneet Kumar & Harminder Singh

  2. Department of Botany, Punjabi University, Patiala, Punjab, 147002, India

    Vijay Kumar Singhal

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Kumar, P., Singhal, V.K. & Singh, H. Intraspecific floral morphotypes in six high altitude perennial herbaceous species from northwest Himalaya: their chromosome counts, meiotic behavior and pollen fertility. Nucleus 61, 35–43 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13237-017-0211-x

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