The cytology of Brachycome lineariloba

A study of approximately 300 plants in the taxonomic species B. lineariloba is reported. Five biological species differing in chromosome number exist in this species complex. The species with the lowest number (species A, n = 2) often carries B chromosomes, which may be large, or minute. It also exists in three racial forms which differ in karyotype. Observations on naturally occurring hybrids in zones of overlap show that two of the races differ by an unequal interchange. — The species with n = 8 (species C) is probably of amphidiploid origin from the cross A X B. Species B, E and D, with n = 6, 5 and 4 respectively, may represent a series of reductions in chromosome number. They show close karyotypic relationships. The relationship of species A with D, E and B is obscure.