Abstract: The karyotypes of five species in Astragalus (A. dahuricus DC., A. mongolicus Bunge., A. adsurgens Pall., A. melilotoides Pell., A. huangheensis H. C. Fu., Y. H. Liu) were studied. Among them, the karyotypes of A. dahuricus and A. melilotoides are reported for the first time. While A. melilotoides is tetraploid (2n=4X=32), all the others are found to be diploid (2n= 2X = 16). Based on the comparison of karyotypes, the evolu-tionary order of these 5 species is discussed.

Key words: Astragalus, A.dahuricus, A.mongholicus, A.adsurgens, A.melilotides, A.huangheensis, Karyotype