• Korean Journal of Plant Taxonomy
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.170-180
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• 2009

Somatic chromosome counts and karyotype analyses were carried out for eight taxa of Korean Allium sect. Sacculiferum. The basic chromosome number of sect. Sacculiferum was x = 8, and they could be cytologically divided into two groups, that is, a diploid group (2n = 2x = 16) containing A. thunbergii var. thunbergii, A. thunbergii var. deltoides, A. thunbergii var. teretifistulosum, A. deltoidefistulosum, A. longistylum, A. linearifolium and A. taqueti, and a tetraploid group (2n = 4x = 32) with only A. sacculiferum. All observed chromosomes were classified into metacentric, submetacentric and subtelocentric. The metacentric ones appeared in all treated taxa. One or two pairs of submetacentric chromosomes were observed in most taxa except A. sacculiferum, the unique taxon with subtelocentric chromosomes. All taxa had a pair of homologous chromosomes with satellites, and the B-chromosomes found in A. thunbergii var. thunbergii, A. deltoidefistulosum, A. sacculiferum and A. longistylum, were metacentric or telocentric. The karyotypes of A. longistylum and A. linearifolium were firstly investigated in this study. In conclusion, the somatic chromosome numbers and karyotypes for members of the sect. Sacculiferum were valuable characters in identifying taxa, investigating interspecific relationships and delimiting taxa. In addition, A. thunbergii var. teretifolium, an invalid name (homonym), was renamed as A. thunbergii var. teretifistulosum H. J. Choi & B. U. Oh.