Diversity of phenotypic traits of Rhodomyrtus tomentosa from different provenances

In order to explore and analyze the genetic diversity of phenotypic traits and the relationship among different provenances of Rhodomyrtus tomentosa, samples from 20 different sources were taken as the research objects, and the phenotypic traits of vegetative organs and floral organs were observed under the condition of homogenous garden cultivation. At the same time, the methods of ANOVA, variance analysis, Shannon-Wiener diversity index analysis, and cluster analysis were used in order to discuss the diversity of various phenotypic traits among different provenances. The results were as follows: (1) The averages of phenotypic traits of R. tomentosa from different provenances were significantly different (P<0.05), and the Shannon-Wiener diversity index of various source phenotypic traits was above 1.35, indicating rich phenotypic traits diversity. (2) The mean coefficient of variation of phenotypic traits within provenances ranged from 10.81% to 63.75%, while those among provenances ranged from 13.08% to 74.04%. Meanwhile, the variation among provenances (23.33%) was higher than that within provenances (19.79%), and the variation of vegetative organs (29.52%) was higher than that of floral organs (14.06%). (3) Correlation analysis showed that there were extremely significant or significant correlations among some phenotypic traits，in which the plant height of R. tomentosa had extremely significant negative correlations with the branch number and had significantly positive correlations with leaf length, leaf width as well as leaf area. (4) At 10 Euclidean distances, the 20 provenances of Rhodomyrtus tomentosa could be divided into three classes: A, B and C, and Class A contained eight provenances, which were characterized by tall plants, few branches, large leaves and large flowers; Class B contained 11 provenances, which were characterized by medium plant height, large leaves and middle flowers; Class C contained only one provenance, which was characterized by lower plant height, more branches, small leaves and flowers compared with the other two classes. The results of this study can provide theoretical basis and materials for selecting and breeding of new R. tomentosa varieties and the study of their target traits.