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In the present study, 26 species belonging to 17 genera and five tribes of the family Asteraceae collected from natural habitats in cold deserts of the western Himalaya were analyzed on their meiotic events. The chromosome counts are reported for the first time in four species viz. Brachyactis roylei (n=9), Cousinia thomsonii (n=12), Erigeron umbrosus (n=9) and Waldheimia glabra (n=9). The euploid or aneuploid chromosome numbers are reported in Arctium lappa (n=17), Bellis perennis (n=5) and Saussurea heteromalla (n=8). The chromosome counts of n=9 in E. borealis is new to the Indian populations. The chromosome counts in the rest 18 species are new additions from the cold desserts of Lahaul-Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh. The present meiotic study also discloses meiotic abnormalities viz. chromosome stickiness, cytomixis, laggards, etc. leading to the hypo-/or hyperploid meiocytes. These abnormalities further may alter pollen viability by producing unreduced pollen grains and might be responsible for the disparity in the chromosome numbers.