Abstract: From standpoint of floristic division, Sichuan is located in the middle part of Eastern Asiatic Region (Takhtajan 1978) or is the area where Sino-Himalayan Forest Subkingdom and Sino-Japan Forest Subkingdom meet (wu 1979). Here exist many socalled Arcto-Tertiary elements and newly originated species or races. In order to bring the light the origin and differentiation of Eastern Asiatic elements, cytological investigation on plants of this region are very significant. The materials of the following 5 species were collected on Mt. Emei in Sichuan Province. Voucher specimens are kept in CDBI. 1. Toricellia angulata Oliver var. intermedia (Harms) Hu PMC meiotic examination revealed n = 12 at diakinesis (Pl. I fig. 9) Toricellia, consisting of 2 spp., is endemic to Eastern Asiatic Region. Based on our result along with the report of Toricellia tiliifolia (Wall.) DC. (2n=24) by Kurosawa (1977), we argue that the basic chromosome number of Toricellia is 12. Many authors, such as Airy-Shaw (1973), Dahlgren (1975, 1977), Takhtajan (1969, 1980), Thorne (1983), have adopted Hu’s (1934) treatment erecting it as a monotypic family Toricelliaceae. Its systematic position, whether closer to Cornaceae than to Araliaceae or vice versa, has been in dispute. Cytologically it seems closer to Araliaceae, as shown anatomically (Lodriguez 1971), because the basic chromosome number of Cornaceae s. 1. is x=11, 9, 8 (Kurosawa 1977), whereas that of Araliaceae is 12 (Raven 1975). 2. Cardiocrinum giganteum (Wall.) Makino Somatic chromosome number, 2n=24 was determined from root-tip cells (Ph. I. fig. 8). Cardiocrinum (Endl.) Lindl., consisting of 3 spp., is endemic to Eastern Asiatic Region. C. giganteum (Wall.) Makino is distributed from Himalayan region to S. W. China. The present report is in accord with the number reported by Kurosawa (1966) who got the material from Darjeeling of India. However the karyotype of the present plant is slightly different from that given by Kurosawa. In the present material, the satellites of the 1st. pair of chromosomes and the short arms of llst. pair of chromosomes are visibly longer than those of Kurosawa’s drawing (fig. 1, 2) The plants from Yunnan, Sichuan and Hubei Provinces, named as C. giganteum var. yunnanense (Leitchtlin ex Elwes) Stearn, differ slightly from those of Himalayan region also in outer morphological characters. The taxon needs both cytological and taxonomical further studies. 3. Disporum cantoniense (Lour.) Merr. PMC meiotic examination revealed n=8 at diakinesis (Pl. I. fig. 6) This species is widely distributed from Himalayan region through Indo-China to our Taiwan Province and Indonesia. Three cytotypes (2n=14, 16, 30) were reported for the taxon including its variety, var. parviflorum (Wall) Hara, by various authors (Hasegawa 1932, Mehra and Pathamia 1960, Kurosawa 1966, 1971 Mehra and Sachdeva 1976a). Some authors consider D. pullum Salisb. and D. calcaratum D. Don as synonyms of D. cantoniense. So D. cantoniense may be a species aggregate with different extreme races. Sen (1973a, b.) reports that the somatic chromosome numbers of D. pullum and D. calcaratum from Eastern Himalayan region are 14, 16, 28, 30, 32. He also discovered that chromosome alterations in species of Disporum involve not only the number but the structure as well. He found that in species of Liliaceae where the reproduction is mainly vegetative, polysomaty often occurs. In China we have not only D. cantoniense and D. calcaratum but also D. brachystomon Wang et Tang which is similar to D. cantoniense var. parviflorum (Wall.) Hara. These taxa need further critical studies. 4. Paris fargesii Franch. PMC meiotic examination revealed n=5+2B (Voucher no. 112) or n=5 (Voucher no. 62) at MI and AI (Pl. I. fig. 1. 4. 5.). This is the first report for the species. A bridge and a fragment were also observed at AI. Paris polyphylla Smith is extraordinarily polymorphic species. Hara (1969) regards all chinese extreme forms, such as P. fargesii Franch., P. violacea Lévl., P. pubescens (Hand. -Mzt.) Wang et Tang, etc. as infraspecific taxa of P. polyphylla. Needless to say, the various races of P. polyphylla Smith in China need further critical studies and are good material for further study to understand the speciation. 5. Reineckia carnea(Andr.) Kunth Reineckia is a monotypic genus endemic to Eastern Asiatic Region. In the present material somatic chromosome number in root-tip cells is determined as 2n=38 (Pl. I. fig. 7). According to the terminology defined by Levan et al., the karyotype formula is 2n=28 m+10 sm. The length of chromosomes varies from 14.28 μ to 5.5 μ. The idiogram given here (fig. 3) is nearly the same as that presented by Hsu et Li (1984). The same number has been previously reported by several authors, Noguchi (1936), Satô (1942), Therman (1956). The karyotype is relatively symmetrical (2B, accorling to the classi-fication of stebbins 1971) in accord with the opinion of Therman (1956).

Key words: Toricellia, Cardiocrinum, Disporum, Paris, Reineckia, chromosome numder, karyotype, cytogeography