CHROMOSOME STUDIES OF IRANIAN MEMBERS OF TRIBE SOPHOREAE (FAMILY LEGUMINOSAE)

The tribe Sophoreae sensu Polhill [9,10] is a large and diverse assemblage comprising the ancient and primitive ancestral stocks of Papilionoideae. The most frequent chromosome basic numbers in this tribe are x = 11 and x = 9 but chromosome numbers range from x = 8-14 are also known. In this study chromosome numbers and karyotype variation of Iranian members of tribe Sophoreae are reported. Iranian taxa in the Sophoreae are Sophora alopecuroides ssp. alopecuroides L., S. alopecuroides ssp. tomentosa (Boiss.) Yakovlev, S. pachycarpa Schrenk ex C.A. Meyer, S. mollis ssp. griffithii (Stocks) Ali, S. mollis ssp. mollis Graham, Ammothamnus lehmanni Bunge and Ammodendron conollyi Fische. S. alopecuroides and S. pachycarpa are 2n=36 and exhibit wide variation in chromosome size within karyotypes. The other taxa are 2n=18. The two subspecies of S. mollis show relatively little variation in chromosome type within the karyotype. Ammodendron conollyi had the smallest mean size of chromosome and Ammothamnus lehmanni had the biggest mean chromosome size. The significance of these results in relation to the evolution of the group and in comparison to some previously reported results is discussed. These results agree with Goldblatt’s count for A. lehmanni and A. conollyi and also agree with Jahan’s count for S. m. ssp. griffithii and another taxon was reported for the first time.