Evaluation of genetic diversity of some Iranian edible Crocus species using morphological and ISSR marker

In this study, two wild Iranian Crocus species (Crocus speciosus and Crocus cancellathus) were examined using 16 morphological characters and 13 ISSR primers on 250 and 25 plant samples, respectively. The highest and lowest coefficient of variations were belonged to the thickness of the petals (71.25%) and the leaf length (15.08%), respectively. Cluster analysis based on morphological characteristics divided plant samples into three groups. Thirteen ISSR primers produced high degree of polymorphism (94.46%). Genetic similarities among the samples ranged from 0.11 to 0.75 for Khanemiran–Arak with HassanAbad-shazand (C. cancellathus) and for Ravansar with-Kangavar (C. speciosus), respectively. Results showed that the plant samples belonging to two studied species, had high genetic diversity and ISSR analysis was suitable technique for evaluation of genetic diversity of Crocus species.