Cytologia 86(1): 97-99 (2021)Rohit N. Mane*, Manoj M. Lekhak and
Shrirang R. Yadav Angiosperm Taxonomy Laboratory, Department of
Botany, Shivaji University, Kolhapur-416004, Maharashtra,
India
Received December 1, 2020; accepted December 30, 2020
Summary Eriocaulon dalzellii, E. sharmae and E. ramnadense are
endemic to the Western Ghats of India. Chromosome numbers for these
species have been reported for the first time. E. dalzellii and E.
sharmae are tet- raploid with 2n=4x=32 chromosomes whereas E.
ramnadense is a triploid with 2n=3x=24 chromosomes.
Keywords Chromosome number, Endemic, Endangered, Eriocaulon,
India.
Eriocaulaceae known by about 1,223 species belong- ing to seven
genera is distributed widely distributed in Africa, Asia, and
America, with centers of species richness in the tropics. Most
species of Eriocaulon grow in wetlands although some inhabit
shallow riv- ers and streams with an apparent adaptive morphology
of elongated submerged stems (Larridon et al. 2019). The genus
Eriocaulon is the largest widespread genus documented by about 482
species worldwide (Govaerts 2019). Despite large genus, chromosome
studies have been reported for only 23 species as shown in Table 1.
Ansari and Balakrishnan (2009) reported 85 species of
Eriocaulon including five taxa of doubtful occurrence in India
(Ansari and Balakrishnan 2009). However, this work does exclude
three taxa previously described or recorded by different authors
(Myrthong et al. 1983). Since then, 22 taxa have been added
(Francis et al. 2020) accounting for about 110 species for the
country. Of the 110 Eriocaulon species, about 60% are endemic to
India, but there is very little cytological information available.
This paper is an attempt to extend chromo- some information.
* Corresponding author, e-mail:
[email protected] DOI:
10.1508/cytologia.86.97
Table 1. Previously reported chromosome numbers for
Eriocaulon.
No. Species 2n/n References
1 E. achiton Körn. 30 Larsen (1966) 2 E. alpestre Hook. f. &
Thomson ex Körn. 24 Nishikawa (1993) 3 E. aquaticum (Hill) Druce 32
Hanson et al. (2003) 4 E. chinorossicum Kom. 24 Sokolovskaya and
Probatova (1985) 5 E. cinereum R. Br. 32, n=9 Erlandsson (1942),
Mehra and Sachdeva (1971) 6 E. compressum Lam. n=20 Cave (1967) 7 #
E. dalzellii Körn. 32 Present study 8 E. decemflorum Maxim. 24
Nishikawa (1993) 9 E. henryanum Ruhland c. 56 Larsen (1966)
10 E. hondoense Satake 24 Nishikawa (1993) 11 E. kusiroense Miyabe
& Kudô ex Satake 24 Nishikawa (1993) 12 E. parkeri B. L. Rob.
c. 48 Love and Love (1958) 13 E. miquelianum Körn. 24 Nishikawa
(1993) 14 E. monococcon Nakai 48 Nishikawa (1993) 15 E. oryzetorum
Mart. c. 60, 90 Larsen (1966) 16 # E. ramnadense R. Ansari & N.
P. Balakr. 24 Present study 17 E. sachalinense Miyabe & Nakai
24 Nishikawa (1993) 18 E. robustobrownianum Ruhland c.110 Larsen
(1966) 19 E. scariosum Sm. 36, 64 Briggs (1966), Larsen (1966) 20 #
E. sharmae R. Ansari & N. P. Balakr. 32 Present study 21 E.
schimperi Korn. ex Engl. c. 80 Hedberg and Hedberg (1977) 22 E.
sexangulare L. 36 Erlandsson (1942), Larsen (1966) 23 E. truncatum
Buch.-Ham. ex Mart. 30, 32 Erlandsson (1942), Larsen (1966)
#Represents taxa endemic to India.
98 R. N. Mane et al. Cytologia 86(1)
Materials and methods
The studied Eriocaulon samples were collected from Suleran,
Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India (Table 2). Ten in- dividuals of each
species were investigated. The voucher specimens of the species are
deposited in the Herbarium,
Department of Botany, Shivaji University, Kolhapur (SUK). Mitosis
was studied from the secondary root tips of mature plants. Root
tips of 4–8 mm length were pre-treated with 2 mM 8-hydroxyquinoline
for 6±2°C for 2–3 h. The root tips were hydrolyzed with 1M hydro-
chloric acid at about 60–70°C for 1 min. Then the root
Table 2. Localities of three Eriocaulon species investigated.
No. Species Locality, altitude, and collection date Voucher
1 E. dalzellii Körn. (Fig. 1A) India, Maharashtra, Kolhapur
district, Suleran, 688 m, 23.08.2020
RNM 205 (SUK)
2 E. ramnadense R. Ansari & N. P. Balakr. (Fig. 1C) India,
Maharashtra, Kolhapur district, Suleran, 689 m, 23.08.2020
RNM 206 (SUK)
3 E. sharmae R. Ansari & N. P. Balakr. (Fig. 1E) India,
Maharashtra, Kolhapur district, Suleran, 688 m, 20.09.2020
RNM 207 (SUK)
Fig. 1. E. dalzellii: A. Habit, B. Somatic chromosome plate; E.
ramnadense: C. Habit, D. Somatic chromosome plate; E. shar- mae: E.
Habit, F. Somatic chromosome plate. Scale bars=10 µm.
2021 New Chromosome Counts in Three Eriocaulon Species from India
99
tips were squashed in 2% propionic orcein. Five somatic chromosome
plates were photographed with a Carl Zeiss Axio Imager.
Results and discussion
The chromosome sets of E. dalzellii and E. sharmae were composed of
2n=4x=32 chromosomes (Fig. 1B, F). This is the first report for
both species. In E. ram- nadense the chromosome number was
determined to be 2n=3x=24 (Fig. 1D). The chromosome number of this
species was also reported for the first time here. In the
Eriocaulaceae family, the chromosome numbers are significantly
different among the taxa (Table 1). In this study, all species have
the basic x=8 chromosome number, E. ramnadense have triploid
chromosomes. E. dalzellii and E. sharmae are tetraploid.
The basic chromosome numbers (x) of 8 and 9 are known for
Eriocaulon (Darlington 1955, Love and Love 1958, Raven 1975). The
most common diploid chromo- some number (2n) for Eriocaulon is
2n=24 (eight spe- cies, Table 1) and 2n=32 (five species, Table 1).
In genus Eriocaulon range of chromosome number are 2n=24, 32, 48,
56, 64, 80. Some chromosome numbers reported n= 20, 2n=30, 90, c.
60, c. 110 may need reconfirmation.
This family remains very poorly known cytologically with only the
genus Eriocaulon previously known. Ra- ven (1975) suggested a base
number x=8 for Eriocaulon, although numbers based on x=9 and 10
have also been reported for four species (Davidse 1981). For under-
standing the interrelationship amongst different Eriocau- lon
species chromosome studies are needed.
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to the Head, Department of Botany, Shivaji
University, Kolhapur for providing laboratory facilities. Rohit N.
Mane is grateful to Rajiv Gandhi Sci- ence and Technology
Commission (RGSTC), Govern- ment of Maharashtra for financial
assistance (RGSTC/ File-2007/DPP-054/CR-028).
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