DISPERSION OF PHENOTYPIC VARIABILITY OF UMBU TREE IN THE BRAZILIAN SEMIARID

Three hundred and fourty umbu trees (Spondias tuberosa A. Cam.) were c haracterized in 17 ecogeographic regions distributed in seven States o f Northeast Brazil. The Agroecological Zoning of the Northeast and the information about extractivism of fruits of umbu tree were used to de fine the regions of sample. Twenty umbu trees were characterized in ev ery ecogeographic region for 11 quantitative characters. The technique s utilized for all information were: principal components of correlati ons matrix and cluster analysis using the euclidian distance of the or iginal standardized data and the nearest centroid sorting method. The trees were grouped in 17 clusters independently of the region of origi n, evidencing that edafoclimatic difference and geographic distance di d not interfere in the evolution and differentiation of umbu trees. Th e ecogeographic regions of Tanquinho, Jeremoabo and Ipupiara, Bahia St ate; Petrolina, Pernambuco State; and Pio IX, Piaui State, are indicat ed as points of dispersion or origin of umbu tree. Weight of fruit, di ameter of canopy, diameter of fruit, weight of fruit peel and height o f plant were the characters of less importance for discrimination of u mbu tree.