Abstract: The present paper deals with the cytological invcstigation of Dys- osma pleiantha (Hance) Woodson, which is a chinese medicine and endemic to China. The karyotype of the specics is reported here for the first time. Accor- ding to the terminology defined by Levan et al. the karyotype formula is K(2n) =8m(2SAT) + 2st(SAT) + 2t. It belongs to "2A" of Stebbins' karyo- typic symmetry and is generally regarded as a more primitive one. Measure- ments of the chromosome complement and the idiogram of the karyotype are given in Table l and Fig. 2 respectively.

Key words: Dysosma pleiantha