River pollution can be caused by anthropogenic or natural factors. When testing water quality for the presence of toxic substances, higher plants as bioindicators for the genotoxic effects of complex mixtures are effective and appropriate. Hence, in this work the Tradescantia (clone 02) stamen hair mutations (Trad-SHM) and Tradescantia micronuclei (Trad-MCN) were used to determine mutagenic and clastogenic potential of an urban river. A significant increase in the level of all studied endpoints as well as morphological changes, including pink cells (PC) and colorless cells (CC) in stamen hairs, stunted hairs (SH), tetrads with micronuclei (MN) and MN in tetrads of pollen microspores in the Tradescantia was observed compared to the negative control (tap water). As an example riverine system, part of the River Hrazdan (Armenia) flowing through a highly urbanized and industrial area was studied. The positive control (10 mM CrO