Diversity of bulbous monocots in Turkey with special reference.
Chromosome numbers*
Neriman Özhatay
University of Istanbul, Faculty of Pharmacy, Department
of Pharmaceutical Botany, 34452 Ístanbul, Turkey
Abstract: Turkey is among the richest countries in the world
in terms of plant diversity. The aim of this paper is to show diversity
of the petaloid and bulbous plants, which belong to monocotyledones.
According to Flora of Turkey and its supplements, the number of species
of bulbous monocotyledones is around 688, of which 244 are endemic (endemism
35.4 %). According to the statistical data of Turkish flowering plants
based on the published records, only 15 % of the flora have information
about chromosome counts, although bulbous monocots percentage is higher
at 58 %. Fritillaria and Tulipa are stable genera as regards chromosome
numbers with 2n = 24 and karyotype; on the other hand, the most variable
genera are Crocus (2n = 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 26, 28, 30,
70) and Ornithogalum (2n = 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 21, 24, 27, 28, 32, 40,
45, 54, 60, 80).
* Lecture presented at the 3rd IUPAC International
Conference on Biodiversity (ICOB-3), Antalya, Turkey, 3-8 November 2001.
Other presentations are presented in this issue, pp. 511584.
** Corresponding author.