A karyotypical analysis of Anemarrhena asphodeloides Bung. of the monotypic genus

Anemarrhena Bung. (Liliaceae) was carried out for the first time. The number of chromo-

somes in root-tip cell of the species was found to be 22, agreeing with that reported by Sato^[12], although inconsistent in some other respects, such as position of  centromeres, length of chromosomes, and nucleoli, etc. (Table 1 ). According to the terminology defined by Levan et al.^［8］, the karyotype formula is therefore 2n=22=2sm (SAT)+2sm+18m.

Photomicrographs of the chromosome complements and idiogram of the karyotype are given

  Fig. 1 and 2).

      The karyotype of Anemarrhena asphodeloides shows explicitly to be asymmetrical, with three pairs of long chromosomes and eight pairs of short chromosomes. This specialized feature, when considered together with the rare occurrence of the basic chromosome number of 11 of the genus within the Tribe Asphodeleae of Liliaceae (see Table 1), suggests that the genus Anemarrhena is probably a rather specialized one, which has scarcely any intimate relationship with the other genera of the above tribe. The fact that this specialized karyotype is associated with certain trends of morphological specialization, such as flowers possessing three stamens only, gives support to the above suggestion. But, it is impossible to draw a more precise conclusion without a more thorough and comprehensive investigation of the species in question.