The chromosome numbers, meiotic course with pollen fertility and pollen size measurement of five species of Pedicularis were assessed: P. gracilis, P. hoffmeisteri, P. pectinata spp. bipinnatifida, P. porrecta and P. punctata. All the five species studied were diploid with 2n=16. The chromosome counts were the first report for P. pectinata spp. bipinnatifida, P. porrecta and P. punctata. Also the phenomenon of cytomixis was reported in these three species. All the chromosome counts reinforced x = 8 as the basic chromosome number for them.

Summary Chromosome numbers, meiotic course and pollen viability were given for 14 species of genus Nepeta L. collected from different localities in Lahaul-Spiti, Kulu, Chamba, Kinnour and Sirmour districts of Himachal Pradesh, India. Except for N. leucophylla (2n=4x=36, tetraploid), all the other 13 species (N. campestris, N. connata, N. discolor, N. eriostachya, N. elliptica, N. govaniana, N. graciliflora, N. leucolaena, N. linearis, N. longibracteata, N. podostachys, N. spicata and N. supina) were diploid (2n=2x=18). Analysis of result shows that the majority of Indian Nepeta species are present with x=9.

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A morpho-meiotic study of wild Mentha longifolia (L.) L. (Lamiaceae) is presented from the nine populations (Kukumsari, Zero-point, Kishori, Tosh, Kasol, Key, Tiling, Mudh and Darcha) in and around the cold desert regions of Lahaul-Spiti of Himachal Pradesh. Present work is needful effort to fill the gap of morpho-meiotic (morphological and cytological) knowledge in M. longifolia growing in high altitude regions. Meiotic study revealed the different chromosome counts in these populations as n = 12, n = 12 + 0-3B and n = 9. Presence of B-chromosome in the species is reported for the first time from the study area and it reflects inter-population variation in five important descriptors (such as a nature of whole plant, stem, leaves, inflorescences and pollen) with 17 sub-descriptor states and occurrence of B-chromosomes. Present study reflects the existence of M. longifolia at diploid (2x) level based on base numbers x = 12 and x = 9.

AbstractMolecular autograph of trn/mat-K gene was used as one of the important candidate marker in addressing the questions of systematics and barcoding of medicinal plants. Features of trn/mat-K gene in Isodon rugosus (Lamiaceae) were assessed for the first time (NCBI GenBank Accession Number: MH939199.1). Sequence of 756 bp length was amplified by the universal matK primers (matK472F and matK1248R) in the cpDNA of the plant. It was reported to contain trnK gene (>1…..50; >746…..756), partial sequence; and matK gene (>51…..745), partial coding DNA sequence. Alignment search and analysis showed that only nine different Isodon species are currently available for matK sequences with repeated copy of submissions in GenBank. The matK sequences of I. rugosus was reported with 34.2 (G + C)% and 17 variable sites (VS), out of which seven were singleton (ST) and 10 sites were species-specific parsimoniously-informative (PI) that could be used to differentiate I. rugosus from other species as well as to authenticate the taxon. Phylogenetic analysis resulted into monophyletic clustering of I. rugosus near to the clade having I. coetsa by both maximum likelihood (ML) and maximum parsimony (MP) methods. Clades obtained in ML tree were more informative as compared to MP tree.