Giemsa C-banded karyotypes of eight species of Alstroemeria L and some of their hybrids

Karyotype analysis of Alstroemeria angustifolia ssp. angustifolia, A. aurea, A. inodora, A. ligtu spp, ligtu, A. magnifica ssp. magnifica, A. pelegrina, A. philippii and A. psittacina using Feulgen-staining and Giemsa C-banding techniques revealed for each species a characteristic chromosome morphology and C-banding pattern. These characteristics could be used to identify many individual chromosomes in diploid interspecific hybrids. Besides interspecific variation, some degree of intraspecific variation in C-banding pattern was observed within A. angustifolia ssp. angustifolia, A. aurea, A. ligtu ssp. ligtu, A. magnifica ssp. magnifica and A. philippii. All species had large chromosomes (2n = 2x = 16) and asymmetric karyotypes. In many species the short arms of the acrocentric chromosomes were darkly stained upon Giemsa C-banding. These telomeric bands seemed satellites. B-chromosomes were observed in one species, A. angustifolia ssp. angustifolia. A variable number of large intercalary and telomeric C-bands was present in the Chilean species, whereas the Brazilian species showed only small C-bands. The differences in karyotypes suggest an early separation of the Chilean and Brazilian species, after which speciation followed different evolutionary pathways. In Alstroemeria the Giemsa C-banding technique can be valuable to plant taxonomists for unravelling species relationships. (C) 1996 Annals of Botany Company