Cytotaxonomical studies of South Indian Piperaceae

Cytotaxonomical investigation has been made in 21 species of Piper and Peperomia, of which first records of chromosome numbers have been made in Piper attenuatum, P. galeatum, P. schmidtii, P. wightii, P. brachystachum, P. hookeri, Peperomia marmorata and P. rubella. 11 is the basic number for Peperomia and 12 for Piper as evidenced by the present investigations. The species of Piper are higher polyploids and aneuploids and the species of Peperomia are mostly aneuploids. The karyotype analyses show that both genera are characterised by the presence of mostly submetacentric and telocentric chromosomes showing thereby that the two genera are highly evolved but in different lines, eventhough, they might have been originated from a common ancestor.