A study of taxonomical relationships among species of Korean Allium sect. Sacculiferum (Alliaceae) and related species using inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers

Morphological differences among Korean Allium subgenus Rhizirideum sect. Sacculiferum and some related species are minor, making species delimitation difficult. Inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) was employed to assess genetic diversity and relationships. Thirty-four accessions, representing six taxa of A. thunbergii, A. sacculiferum, A. deltoides-fistulosum, A. cyaneum var. cyaneum, A. cyaneum var. deltoides, A. anisopodium, were sampled in this study. The ISSR markers revealed high polymorphism among taxa studied. In the phenetic analysis, accessions of A. sacculiferum and A. deltoides-fistulosum are nested within A. thunbergii accession group; A. cyaneum var. cyaneum and A. cyaneum var. deltoides are separated from the above sect. Sacculiferum group; the status of putative A. anisopodium is less clear, with a position between sect. Sacculiferum and A. cyaneum. We propose that A. deltoidesfistulosum and A. sacculiferum be sunk into A. thunbergii and that the putative A. anisopodium be recognized as A. cyaneum var. deltoides.