Cytotaxonomic studies in Iberian, Balearic, North African, and Macaronesian species of Carex (Cyperaceae). II
Meiotic studies on 26 taxa, including two hybrids, of the genus Carex are presented. Results obtained with the hybrid between Carex remota and Carex paniculata ssp. lusitanica were remarkable, since they showed a great number of configurations and even different chromosome numbers in metaphase I. The karyology of the Carex muricata group in the SW of Europe was studied for the first time. I also performed the first studies on the karyology of two species belonging to section Carex in the SW of Europe, namely Carex hirta, which gave the highest chromosome number reported so far for the genus Carex (2n = 114), and Carex lasiocarpa Erhr., for which I found a putative triploid whose chromosome number (2n = 78–85) was not constant in metaphase I. Agmatoploidy seems to be the most important process involved in the cytogenetic evolution of the species studied here. The idea of the existence of "fragile points" in the chromosomes is suggested to explain the formation of bivalents upon chromosome breakage. In addition, the chromosome number for Carex canariensis is reported here for the first time. Key words: Carex, Cyperaceae, cytogenetics, western Mediterranean.