A CYTOGENETIC STUDY OF THE FUNCTIONALLY DIOECIOUS SPECIES IN THE GENUS LYCIUM (SOLANACEAE)

A cytogenetic study of five species of Lycium and an interspecific hyb rid from southern Africa, is presented. All these taxa have a basic ch romosome number of 12. This is the first report on chromosome numbers for L. arenicolum (hexaploid), L. horridum (tetraploid), L. tetrandrum (hexaploid) and L. villosum (tetraploid). Various meiotic abnormaliti es were observed, such as univalents, laggards during anaphase I, micr onuclei during telophases I and II, and anaphase bridges. Cell fusion occurs frequently in the studied species, with apparently no effect on ploidy levels within them. The abnormalities observed in L. arenicolu m indicate a lack of chromosome homology and, therefore, suggest a hyb rid origin for this species.