Prior to inoculation, explants of both leaves and rhizomes were washed with sterile seawater and inoculated in test tubes contain-ing 20 ml of full strength MS (Murashige and Skoog, 1962) gelled(0.8% agar, w/v) medium supplemented with 3% sucrose. Different combinations of the auxin 2,4-D with the cytokinins BAP andKinetin at different concentrations (0.5, 1 and 2 mg l−1) were tested.The medium was prepared using autoclaved sterile seawater of salinity 32‰, and the pH of the medium was adjusted to 5.6 priorto autoclaving using 1 N HCl. All the cultures were incubated at23 ± 2◦C under cool white fluorescent light (35 mol m−2s−1) with10/14 h light:dark photo-period