CYTOLOGICAL STUDIES ON TWO GUANGDONG TEA VARIETIES

Karyotype analyses of two Guangdong tea varieties, i.e. Ruyuan Baimao and Taishan Baiyun,which have local feature of Guangdong, were conducted. The results showed that the two varieties were of diploids( 2n=2x =30) though cells with fewer than 30 chromosomes were observed. Particularly a haploid cell in Ruyuan Baimao variety was observed. The karyotype symmetry analysis showed that the two varieties originated and evolved comparatively later than many other tea varieties.