J Syst Evol ›› 1993, Vol. 31 ›› Issue (5): 405-412.

• Research Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Studies on the Karyotype and Systematic Position of Larix Mill. (Pinaceae)

Li Lin-chu   

  • Published:1993-09-18

Abstract: The present paper reports the karyotype of Larix potaninii Batal. endemic to China, and discuss classification of Larix and its systematic position in the Pinaceae based on karyotype and other data. The karyotypic formula of the species is K(2n)=24= 12m+ 8sm+4st, which belongs to Stebbins’2A type and the chromosome complement of relative length is 2n=24=4L+8M2+8M1+4S. The karyotype of the genus Larix (10 species) is composed of six pairs of longer metacentric chromosomes and six pairs of shorter submetacentric or subtelocentric chromosomes with arm ratio>2. This karyotype is an advanced one. It seems that Sect. Multiserales is more advanced than Sect. Larix. On the basis of the comparison among the karyotypes of pinaceous genera, the author finds that Larix and Pseudotsuga are much more closely related to each other than any of them to the others. Therefore, it may be more appropriate to group these two genera into Subfamily Laricoideae, which is a more advanced one. The conclusion is also supported by the data from morphology, anatomy, palynology,biochemistry, palaeobotany and so on.

Key words: Larix potaninii, Larix, Laricoideae, Pinaceae, Karyotype, Systematics