作 者 ：Hsu Ping-Sheng, Ge Chuan-Ji, Li Yan-Kun, Yan Li
期 刊 ：植物分类学报 1987年 1期
Keywords:Leonurus, L.japonicus, Chromosome number, China,
Abstract:
Leonurus japonicus Houtt. [L. heterophyllus Sweet, L. artemisia (Lour.) S. Y.
Hu] is one of the most important traditional Chinese medicines used as a remedy for gynaeco-
logical disease since ancient times. A cytological investigation on the species was carried out
and the materials for chromosomal examination were collected from 26 localities in 20 provi-
noes and autonomous regions of this country. The number of chromosomes in root tip cell of
the species was found to be 20 on the whole (Tab. 1:1), agreeing with those reported by Ma and
al.[2] and probably by Chuang and al.[3] as well.
The genus Leonurus L. is variable in its chromosomes with an aneuploidy of x=9, 10 and
12. The present authors would propose that the primitive basic number of chromosome in the
genus is 9, and thus both 10 and 12 are derived, for: (1) among the 9 species (including 1 sub-
species) heretofore cytologically examined, x=9 occurring in 66.7%, x=10 occurring in 22.2%,
while x=12 occurring only in 11.1%; (2) in generaclosely related to the genus under considera-
tion, such as Panzeria, Galeobdolon and Lamium x=9 being the sole basic number.
But L. japonicus exhibits a mixoploidy of 2n=20 (occurring at the rate of 53.30% of the
total amount of cells examined), 2n=18 (30.70%), and 2n=16 (15.99%) in our work. (Table
1). Since the original basic number of chromosome of the genus is 9 as proposed above, 2n=
20 would be considered as a derived one and the occurrence of 2n=18 probably suggests an
early evolutionary trend of 2n=18→20 of the pecies in question.