• geophytes
• Monocots
• karyology
• vegetation
• flora Greece
• plant biodiversity
• Greece
• Balcanic flora
• Mediterranean flora

In the frame of the “Socrates Project” in the Faculty of Biology of Patras University, Greece, during nine months of the academic year 2003-2004, it has given birth the present investigation on some geophytes of Greece in their cytotaxonomical aspects.
The taxa studied belong to different families of the order Asparagales, superorder Liliiflorae of the Monocots, according to Dahlgren (1985); these families are Alliaceae, Hyacinthaceae and Amaryllidaceae.
The plants of each unit have been picked up in different areas of Greece, including the Ionian Islands (Zakynthos, Kefalonia, Lefkas), Peloponnese, and the eastern Greek mainland.
All the taxa studied are spontaneous in Greece, except one, Amaryllis belladonna, present in the Greek flora as naturalized component. The other units investigated have a relatively wide diffusion mainly in Mediterranean countries, except Allium ionicum which is a Greek endemic with a narrow distribution in the Ionian Islands.
The present research has allowed to determinate the chromosome number and the idiogram with the corresponding idiogrammatic formula of some populations of the taxa in object.
The chromosome numbers obtained are reported below:

Allium ionicum Brullo & Tzanoud., 2n=16

Allium paniculatum L., 2n=16

Allium guttatum Steven ssp. sardoum (Moris) Stearn, 2n=16+1B

Muscari comosum (L.) Miller, 2n=18

Muscari commutatum Guss., 2n=18

Amaryllis belladonna L., 2n=22

The basic chromosome number and the general karyotype complement obtained resulted in agreement with many authors, for plants mainly from the Mediterranean area.
Nevertheless, slight differences have been observed in some karyotype details in respect to other authors, for istance the position of the secondary nucleolar constrictions in Allium ionicum; some differences resulted between the two populations here studied and in respect to populations investigated by other authors. Anyway the differences here evidenced can be explained in terms of variability of the karyotype within a taxon, often as a response to particular ecological factors.
The Allium paniculatum and Allium guttatum karyotypes found have brought a contribute to the knowledge of cytogeographical distribution pattern of Allium in Greece, which allows to estabilish plants migration routes and evolution pattern.
Muscari comosum has confirmed the well known structural heterozygosity present in the second chromosome pair, bringing a contribute with regard to the type of this polymorphism and its adaptative role.
Muscari commutatum has also confirmed the data existing with regards to the position of the satellites and the general chromosome morphology.
At last, Amaryllis belladonna has allowed to make considerations on the variable levels of ploidy in cultivated or naturally spreading plants.