Cytological Variability in Artemisia L. inhabiting North-West Himalayas: B Chromosomes in Artemisia gmelini Weber ex Stechm

Abstract

Present work is a part of our studies on the cytological details of some species of Artemisia L. inhabiting Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir state. Of the six populations investigated for three different species (Artemisia sieversiana Ehrh. ex Willd., A. tournefortiana L. and A. gmelinii Weber ex Stechm.), some variations were noticed only for Artemisia gmelinii. The species occurring in Leh region at altitudinal range of 3992 masl is diploid with 2n = 18 (n = 9). In one of the population of the species, sprawling in Hemis region (4009 masl), В chromosome was found to be present in addition to the diploid chromosome complement. Comparison of the different morphological and reproductive features revealed that the population with В chromosome had reduced vigour.