Abstract: Tube seedlings of Aloe vera L. were treated with colchicine to from polyploid plants. The results show that the best induction rate could reach 50 after treatment with 0.06 colchcine in 12 hours. By comparing the polyploid plants with normal diploid ones, leaves of polyploid plants were thicker, larger, darker in color, and with larger stomata and less in number. Cytological studies show that the chromosome number of the variant is 28, while the normal diploid plant is 14. It was found that a few induced plants were chimera with diploid cells (2n = 4x = 14) and tetraploid cells (2n = 4x = 28) simultaneously.

Key words: Aloe vera