An Improved Method for Culturing Tradescantia Pollen Tubes for Chromosomal Analysis

By using pollen from Tradescantia palndosa, it was found that pollen cultural medium containing calcium, magnesium and potassium ions, at a high pH, greatly enhanced growth of the pollen and accelerated the pollen mitosis. The calcium-supplemented medium, unlike conventional pollen growth media, facilitated well aligned mitotic chromosomes in the pollen tubes, resulting in a more distinct appearance of the chromosomes. This allowed the obtaining of more analyzable chromosomes in the pollen tubes.