Phenotypic Diversity of Seeds and Fruits in Natural Populations of Mytilaria laosensis
In order to reveal the phenotypic variation patterns of the seed and fruit traits of natural M. laosensis populations in different distribution areas, an investigation was conducted on 6 seed and fruit traits of 8 natural M. laosensis populations. We examined the morphological diversity among and within populations based on analysis of 6 phenotypic traits. Nested variance analysis, multi-comparison, correlation analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis were used to analyze the experimental results. There were significant differences in 6 seed and fruit traits among and within the populations. The mean phenotypic differentiation coefficient for the six traits was 33.73%which suggesting that the variance within the populations was the main part of the phenotypic variation.The average coefficient of variance(CV) among 6 traits was 13.90%, and the range of variation was 9.73% to18.39%.The size coefficient of seed was positively correlated with thousand seed weight. In general, the spatial variation of seed traits of natural populations was strongly related to longitude. There was significant relationship between geographic distances and mahalanobis distances calculated from all phenotypic traits(r=0.459 4, p=0.02). According to UPGMA cluster analysis by mahalanobis distances, the 8 populations of M. laosensis could be divided into 4groups. These findings will provide scientific basis for collecting, evaluating and utilizing the germplasm resources of M. laosensis.