Cytogenetic Study of Five Varieties of Callisia repens (Jacq.) L. (Commelinaceae) from Laos

Cytogenetical studies were carried out on five varieties of Callisia repens, i.e., turtle vine, green, pink lady, gold, and Bianca. The morphological characteristics of all five varieties differed in leaf shape and color of the plant. All five varieties have the same chromosome number, 2n = 12, and the fundamental number (NF) = 24. The number of metacentric (m), submetacentric (sm), and subtelocentric (st) chromosomes was related to the discrepancies between the various karyotypes that were found. The formula for each of the karyotypes was 2m + 2sm + 8st (turtle vine), 2m + 10st (green), 8m + 4st 14 (pink lady), 2m + 4sm + 6st (gold), and 2m + 2sm + 8st (Bianca). Therefore, all five strains had asymmetrical karyotypes. The chromosome number of C. repens has been reported previously, but this is the first report of karyotype variation among the varieties.