New perspectives on the mechanisms of chromosome evolution in parasitic flowering plants

In an attempt to find any association between chromosomal characters and parasitism, a cytological study of parasitic flowering plants in Israel has been carried out. While no such association was found, evidence for three levels of chromosome evolution could be discerned: intra-chromosomal modifications, polyploidy per se , and genome restructuring in polyploids. Our conclusions may serve as a paradigm of the multiple pathways of chromosomal evolution in plants in general. © 2002 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society , 138 , 117–122.