Morphological Variation of Two Cultivated Types of Perilla Crop from Different Areas of China

To better understand the morphological variation for Perilla crop in different areas of China, we studied the morphological variation in 87 accessions (84 cultivated var. frutescens and three cultivated var. crispa) from high latitude (Northeast China) and middle latitude (North and Northwest China) areas of China by examining seven quantitative and 10 qualitative characters. Analysis of the morphological variation determined that there was significant morphological differences in five quantitative traits between cultivated var. frutescens and cultivated var. crispa , including effective number of branches (QN2), number of internodes (QN3), number of branches (QN4), length of the largest inflorescence (QN5), and days from germination to flowering (QN7). However, two quantitative traits-plant height and number of florets of the largest inflorescence-did not show any significant differences between cultivated var. frutescens and cultivated var. crispa . In addition, significant differences for six quantitative traits were found between the accessions of cultivated var. frutescens originating from high and middle latitude areas in China, which included QN2, QN3, QN5, number of florets of the largest inflorescence (QN6), and QN7. Principal components analysis (PCA) identified five quantitative characters [plant height (QN1), QN2, QN3, QN4, QN7] and six qualitative characters [fragrance of plant (QL1), color of reverse side of leaf (QL3), degree of pubescence (QL5), color of flower (QL6), shape of leaf (QL7), and hardness of seed (QL10)] that contributed to the positive direction on the first axis. The other quantitative and qualitative characters contributed to the negative direction on the first axis. Most accessions of cultivated var. frutescens and cultivated var. crispa were clearly separated by the first axis. In addition, most accessions of cultivated var. frutescens are from high latitude and middle latitude areas that were clearly separated by the first axis, except for several accessions. The findings from this study will provide useful information towards understanding the morphological variation of Perilla crop according to geographical distribution in high and middle latitude regions of China.