Karyological Analysis of Endemic Five Muscari Taxa

Five endemic Muscari taxa in Turkey are examined in terms of chromosome number and morphology. Muscari sivrihisardaghlarense (2n=18), M. serpentinicum (2n=18), M. atillae (2n=18) and M. ufukii (2n=18) are diploid. M. tuzgoluense is polyploid with 2n=36 chromosome number. Chromosome counts have confirmed the previous reports that Muscari genus is x=9 of basic chromosome number. The chromosome number and morphology of these species are reported for the first time. The karyotypes have the predominance of meta-centric and submetacentric chromosomes. Six quantitative asymmetric indices were used to evaluate the karyological characteristics of the species, and these results increase our karyological knowledge about the species.