ALLOZYME VARIATION IN VIRGILIA-OROBOIDES (TRIBE PODALYRIEAE, FABACEAE)

Horizontal starch gel electrophoresis was used to examine genetic dive rsity within a morphologically uniform population of Virgilia oroboide s. Fifty trees were surveyed for 37 proteins, and gene products of 43 protein coding loci revealed genetic variation at 21 (48.8%) thereof. The percentage of polymorphic loci was 46.51% (0.95 criterion), a valu e of 1.49 (+/- 0.08) was obtained for the mean number of alleles per l ocus, and the average heterozygosity per locus was calculated at 0.207 (+/- 0.034). Although the mean heterozygosity per locus is relatively high for plant species in general, it compares favourably with values obtained for vascular plants, plants with comparable life history cha racteristics and other legumes.