Abstract: Lathyrus anhuiensis Y.J.Zhu et R. X. Meng, a new perennial species recently found in Anhui Province of southeastern China, has a very rcstricted distribution and limited in number of individuals. A cytological inve- stigation was carried out promptly in order to reveal the karyotypical chara- cteristics of the plant. The number of chromosomes in root-tip cell of the specics was found to bc l4, agreeing with most of the specics of the same genus heretofore reported. In the light of chromosomal terminology defined by Levan and al., the ka- ryotype formula is K (2n) =14=4m+ 2m (SAT) + 8sm. Photomicrographs of the chromosome complement and the idiogram are shown in Figs. 1-2. Mea- surcments in rnicrons of the chromosome sets are given in Table 1.

Key words: Lathyrus