Cytotaxonomy of Charophytes in West Bengal, India: karyotype analysis of three subspecies ofNitella furcata

Summary Three subspecies under Nitella furcata (viz. furcata, mucronata, flagelliformis) were collected from different parts of the state of West Bengal, India. These three subspecies were studied cytotaxonomically in the present investigation. Earlier, data for cytotaxonomical studies were collected from chromosome preparation using unpretreated materials. A precise pretreatment schedule was followed in the present work, which helped in revealing the chromosome morphology distinctly. Subspecies furcata and mucronata showed a chromosome number of n = 18 while the chromosome number of flagelliformis was found to be n = 9. These findings confirmed the earlier reports of chromosome number counts of these three subspecies. An analysis of karyotypes constructed from pretreated metaphase plates and consideration of other cytological data, justified the creation of these three subspecies under Nitella furcata. Total form percent (TF%) were calculated for all the three taxa. TF% calculated for furcata, mucronata ...