Sexual dimorphism in the size of nuclei with dioecious plants

Measurements of the size of the nuclei of dioecious plants showed that the nuclei of male and female plants differ in agreement with the larger quantity of chromatin. The male. plants ofRumex acetosella andMelandrium album had larger nuclei, their Y chromosome being larger than the X chromosome, the same is true forRumex acetosa where the Y chromosome is smaller but there are two in the set.Ginkgo biloba had larger female nuclei because the Y chromosome was smaller than the X. The curves obtained by grouping all the nuclei of both sexes never had two peaks with regard to the small differences between the classes of maximum frequency.