[On the effect of Chinese lacquer upon the cell division of root tip of Allium cepa].

Chinese Lacquer, as a fine coating, has been studied and applied for thousands years. The allergic reaction in Chinese Lacquer on the human skin has also been known early. The reaction of Chinese Lacquer on mitosis of cell in plant meristem have not been reported yet and was carefully studied in this paper. The result showed that Chinese Lacquer induced severe abnormality of mitotic division in Allium cepa root tips. This was more obvious in the anaphase and telophase, especially in the former phase laggard chromosomes, chromosome bridges, acentric fragments and polypolar distribution could be seen frequently. A lot of polynuclear bodies were observed in the telophase. Therefore, we think that the Chinese Lacquer can be used as a plant cell mutagen, and suggest geneticists and physiologists to do more researches on the effects of Chinese Lacquer at the genetic variation, metabolism etc.