COMPARATIVE-STUDY OF TREE PEONY (PAEONIA-SUFFRUTICOSA ANDR.) CULTIVARS AND HYBRIDS BY RANDOM AMPLIFIED POLYMORPHIC DNA (RAPD) ANALYSIS

Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) assay was performed to categor ize or discriminate 14 tree peony (Paeonia suffruticosa) cultivars, a yellow tree peony (P. lutea), a Chinese peony (P. lactiflora) cultivar , and five interspecific cultivars. Forty decamer primers were screene d; 11 of these primers produced 108 reproducible amplified DNA bands u seful as polymorphic markers. Twenty one genotypes were discriminated with these markers. The similarity values among the genotypes were als o calculated with these markers. The results showed that P. suffrutico sa cultivars are clearly distinct species from P. lactiflora and P. lu tea. Similarity values of yellow flowering hybrid cultivars, 'Kinkaku' , 'Kinshi', 'Kinkoh', 'High Noon', and 'Oriental Gold' were between th ose of P. suffruticosa cultivars and P. lutea. Among P. suffruticosa c ultivars, 'Shishigashira', which was introduced to Shimane Pref. from Shizuoka Pref. in the Edo-period, had lower similarity values with cul tivars which originated from the Osaka Pref. during the Meiji era. P. suffruticosa cultivars with closely related parentage showed high simi larity values (SVs) with both or either parent (s). Cultivar relations hips based on SVs established by RAPD markers agreed partly with those based on morphological data, but not on the basis of petal anthocyani dins.