Investigation of karyological characteristics in several popualations of Papaver fugax

The Papaveraceae family polarizes the special attention for its pharmaceutical, ornamental and alimentary valences. The main trait of the family is its capacity to synthesize various and very complex alkaloids. Wild Papaver fugax species are found in the Northwest of Iran. Since there is little information about cytogenetic status of populations, this research is to study the karyological properties of the root apical meristem for six population with staining aceto-iron-hematoxylin was performed. Karyotype and morphology of mitotic chromosomes in six populations of medicinal plant Papaver fugax collected from various geographical locations of northwest of Iran were studied. Chromosome characteristics were measured from 6 complete metaphase cells using Micromeasure software. Results showed that P. fugax is a diploid species with 2n=2x=14 chromosomes. The karyotype consisted of six pairs of submetacentric and one pairs of metacentric chromosomes. Chromosome 1 had a secondary constriction and satellite at the end of its short arm. Karyological characteristics of all materials studied were similar to each other; however, there were some variations on chromosome arm ratios and relative lengths among different populations. All of the populations placed on 3A class of Stebbin’s asymmetry categories.