Cytological Studies on South Indian Araceae

Abstract

Araceae is a large family consisting of 1400–1500 species in 105 genera (Lawrence 1960), distributed largely in the tropics. The family includes three important tuber crops, viz. dasheen or taro (Colocasia esculenta Schott), tanier (Xanthosoma sagittifolium Schott) and elephantfoot yam (Amorphophallus campanulatus B1.) widely cultivated in most tropical countries. Other cultivated species of less importance are Alocasia indica and Typhonium trilobatum. The aim of the present investigation has been chromosome studies of cultivated and wild tuberous species of the Araceae. Cytological observations on 30 species, mostly indigenous to South India are presented in this paper. Karyological studies of four South Indian species of Amorphophallus have been reported elsewhere (Ramachandran 1977). © 1978, Japan Mendel Society, International Society of Cytology. All rights reserved.