Populations of perennial teosinte were rediscovered in Jalisco by Rafael Guzmàn Mejìa of the Instituto de Botànica, Universidad de Guadalajara, at Guadalajara, Jalisco, in 1977. The author visited two of the localities last November. The first site was located at Rancho Los Cimientos in the Ejido de Piedra Ancha at about 30 km S.W. from Cd. Guzmàn at an altitude of 2100 m; the second site was located in San Miguel at about 15 km east from Cuzalapa, Municipio de Cuautitlàn, at an altitude of 1800 m. From rhizomes collected at each site, root tips were gathered in the greenhouse at Chapingo, and chromosome counts performed. It was found that plants from Cd. Guzmàn were tetraploid (2n = 40) and those from San Miguel were diploid (2n = 20). Since both sites are separated about 70 km from each other on a straight line, it would be of interest to search the region with more detail, especially around the Nevado and Volcàn de Colima, in order to determine how extensively the perennial teosinte is present, and what are the distributions of the populations at each ploidy level.

T. Angel Kato Y.

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