CHROMOSOMIC OBSERVATIONS IN CENTROSEMA

Mitotic analysis was carried out on 29 accessions of nine species of t he genus Centrosema. The root-tips were pretreated with a saturated so lution of paradichlorobenzene and stained with Giemsa according to Gue rra Filho (Cienc. Cult. 35: 190-193, 1983). A hundred cells per access ion were analysed in all species except for C. macrocarpum for which o nly 54 metaphases were observed due to poor germination of seeds. A di ploid number of 2n=22 chromosomes was found for C. acutifolium, C. pas cuorum, C. plumieri, C. brasilianum, C. macrocarpum, C. pubescens, C. schottii and C. arenarium, the latter for the first time. For C. virgi nianum a diploid number of 2n=18 chromosomes was confirmed.