Karyomorphology of Podocarpus s.l. in China and its systematic significance

Investigated in the present paper is the karyomorphology of 7 species in 3 sections of Podocalpus s.1. from Yunnan province of China. All species comm only showed the mitotic prophase chromosomes of the same interstitial type, but different resting nuclei type. The resting nuclei were found the gradi ent type for Sect. Dacrycarpus, the simple chromocenter type for Sect. Nage ia and the complex chromocenter type for Sect. Podocarpus respectively. The karyotype formulae were 2n=20=16M+4SM for Podocarpus imbricatus, 2n=26=9M17SM for P. nagi, 2n=26=17M+9SM for P. wallichiana, 2n=26=13M+13SM for P. f leuryi, 2n=38=19M+3SM+2ST+8T for P. macrophyllus var, angustifolius, 2n=38= 18M+10SM+2SM+8T for P. forestii, and 2n=38=20M+10SM+8T for P. neriifolius r espectively. The karmorphology of 3 sections in Podocarpus, especially the resting nuclei and basic chromosome number, together with the other data, j ustified their generic status in the family.