Naturally Occurring Polyploidy in Amaranthus splendens Tricolor

Thomas Joseph O'Donnell, Fordham University

Abstract

I. INTRODUCTIONInvestigation during the past several years has shown that some diploid plants have, at some stage in their natural development, polyploid cells in active division. Examples of this can be found among the Leguminosae, the Chenopodiaceae, and the Liliaceae.In Mimosa pudica polyploid divisions were found to be common in very young seedlings, attaining a maximum frequency in seedlings of 4mm. in length and decreasing in number with the increase in length of the seedling. (Witkus and Berger 1949). These polyploid divisions were found only in the large cells of the periblem, were all tetraploid, and showed the paired arrangement of chromosomes, indicating that they undergo only one division as polyploids. Paired polyploid chromosomes were present from the very beginning of mitotic activity, indicating an embryonic origin.

Subject Area

Biology

Recommended Citation

O'Donnell, Thomas Joseph, "Naturally Occurring Polyploidy in Amaranthus splendens Tricolor" (1960). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI28673313.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI28673313

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