Polyembryony, Apomixis and Polyspory are the three most common forms of anomalous reproduction in angiosperms (Carman, 1997). Polyembryony is a condition in which there are multiple embryos in a seed which further develop into independent seedlings (Maheswari, 1974).
Carman (1997) made a comparative report of anomalous reproduction in angiosperms and mentioned that apomixis exists in 126 genera of 33 families and polyembryony was the most common anomaly recorded, occurring in 255 genera of 115 families. Salomao and Allem (2001), reported occurrence of this phenomenon in 12 families of angiosperms. Polyembrony was reported in several tropical trees such as Tectona grandis (Dabral, 1977) Syzygium cumini (Kader et al., 2000), Pterocarpus marsupium (Shrivas and Bajpai, 1990), adirachta indica (Singh et al., 1995). The genus Syzygium Gaertn. belongs to the family Myrtaceae. Plants of this genus are widespread, occurring in tropical and sub-tropical regions of South-East Asia, Australia and Africa. The genera Syzygium and Eugenia received much interest since ancient times because of its various uses to humankind. Many species of Syzygium yield edible fruits (Ramachandran, 2007), which provide food for man as well as a number of birds and wildlife.
There are more than 1200 species of Syzygium distributed all over the world, in tropical regions of Asia, Africa, Australia and south western pacific regions (Parnell et al., 2007, Govaerts et al., 2008). Fruits of many species, such as Syzygium aqueum, S. malaccensis, S. jambos, S. cumini, etc. are edible and used for making wine. The genus Syzygium is distributed throughout the Indian subcontinent, but are highly neglected when compared to other angiosperm families and genera. Syzygium forms the single largest genus in Western Ghats, with 48 taxa, of which 23 are endemic to this region. Syzygium cumini (L.) Skeels is one of the best known species under the genus Syzygium which yield edible fruits. It is commonly known as jnaval, black plum, jamun, java plum, Indian blackberry, Malabar plum, Purple plum etc., distributed throughout India, from plains of the Himalayas to southern India. Traditionally the fruits, leaves, seeds, and bark are used in Ayurvedic medicine. There are several studies indicating the use of fruits, seeds and other parts having the property to manage diabetes (Vinayagam and Kirubanandan, 2010, Shafi, et al., 2002, Mohammad et al., 2013, Ravi et al., 2004, Chaudhuri et al., 1990, Sharma et al., 2003).
(Source: This is an abstract taken from the 'My forest' Journal; March - June 2017. The authors are C. Kunhikannan and Rekha R Warrier. You can read the entire article at aranya.gov.in)
