Morphological Variations and Genetic Diversity of Epimedium sagittatum Populations

Epimedium sagittatum has wide distribution and the large morphological variation,which makes it difficult to classify.In addition,great differences related to morphological traits and bioactive components exist between different populations with unstable quality.In this study, quantitative morphological characters and genetic diversity of 12 geographic populations of E.sagittatum were determined by a common garden experiment in the Wuhan Botanical Garden,CAS.The results showed there were significant differences in morphological traits.Based on AFLP data,the genetic diversity analysis demonstrated that population relationships were closely related with geographical distribution:Liuzhou population(LZ),Northwest populations(CL,HH,ZY)and Eastern and Central China populations(YT,WN,NF,HS,QZ,SG,LY,LT)were successively separated.But complicated morphological variations were shown by hierarchical cluster analysis of the main quantitative morphological characters and only part of the populations showed a certain relationship with genetic diversity.This study provides important information on the taxonomy and exploration of quality resources of E.sagittatum.