Genetic relationships among Hibiscus syriacus, Hibiscus sinosyriacus and Hibiscus paramutabilis revealed by AFLP, morphology and ploidy analysis

The genetic relationships between and within Hibiscus syriacus, Hibiscus si nosyriacus and Hibiscus paramutabilis, three winter hardy Hibiscus species native to China, were analysed by the amplified fragment length polymorphis ms (AFLP) technique and by morphological evaluation of flower and leaf char acteristics. Both methods clearly discriminated between the three species. H. sinosyriacus was classified as an intermediate form between H. paramutab ilis and H. syriacus; however, it showed a higher similarity to H. paramuta bilis. The different H. syriacus cultivars could be identified by AFLP anal ysis, while also leaf indices clustered the different cultivars in small gr oups. Flow cytometry showed that both triploid and tetraploid cultivars occ ur in the H. syriacus assortment. In general triploid cultivars had larger flowers compared to diploid cultivars.