Karyosystematic study of selected plant taxa from Cyprus ELENI CHRISTOU, PEPY BAREKA & GEORGIA KAMARI Abstract Christou, E., Bareka, P. & Kamari, G. 2008: Karyosystematic study of selected plant taxa from Cyprus. – Bot. Chron. 19: 13-20. The chromosome number, karyotype morphology and geographical distribution of five selected taxa from the indigenous flora of Cyprus are presented, along with taxonomic comments where appropriate. For Ophrys sphegodes subsp. aesculapiiformis karyological data is reported for the first time. Three of the taxa (Arisarum vulgare, Anacamptis pyramidalis & Gladiolus italicus) are karyologically examined for the first time from Cyprus. Karyotype microphotographs for all taxa are provided and their karyotype morphology is discussed. E. Christou, P. Bareka & G. Kamari, Botanical Institute, Section of Plant Biology, Department of Biology, University of Patras, 265 00 Patras, Hellas (Greece). Key words: chromosome numbers, distribution, karyotype morphology, taxonomy. Introduction Cyprus, the third largest island of the Mediterranean area, is phytogeographically related to Asia Minor and Syria and very interesting from a floristic point of view. A total of ca 140 endemic taxa have been recorded in the island until now, which represent 8.2% of the indigenous flora. However, rather few karyological data have been published from Cyprus so far (SLAVIû & AL. 1993, VOGT & APARICIO 1999, TZANOUDAKIS 1999, GENNAIOU-DELLA 2000, YILDIZ & GÜCEL 2006). This paper contains some preliminary results on 5 plant taxa, most of which are being karyologically examined for the first time from Cyprus. This work is a part of a broad karyological study of the Cypriot flora in the framework of the first author’s dissertation. Materials and methods Living plants from all the investigated populations were cultivated for karyological studies, in the experimental garden of the Botanical Institute, University of Patras,. Vouchers are deposited in UPA. Chromosome counts were obtained from root tip metaphases, using the squash technique (ÖSTERGREN & HENEEN 1962) with some small modifications. Root tips Arisarum vulgare and Arum dioscoridis were pretreated for 6 h in a mixture of 1:1 of 8-hydroxyquinoline (0.002% w/v):colchicine 0.2% w/v. For Anacamptis pyramidalis, Gladiolus italicus and Ophrys shoegodes subsp. aesculapiiformis an aqueous solution of 8- hydroxyquinoline (0,002% w/v) was used. Fixation in Carnoy (3:1 (v/v) absolute ethanol:glacial acetic acid) was implemented for 24 h at 0-4 o C. Afterwards, the root tips were