Phenological Characteristic On Tulipa From China And Its Morphological Differentiation Of Populations

The tulip was one of the most important ornamental bulb plants in the world. Xinjiang was the only distribution area of Tulipa in China with 12 species. It was very essential to observe the biological characteristics and morphological variations of wild species in order to find some variable individuals inherited stably and supply valuable genetic materials for tulips breeding. The phenology of 12 Tulipa species from China and the variation patterns of morphology in different populations of both T. iliensis and T. altaica were observed in detail in present study, our aims were to provide the understanding of their phenological characteristics, draw out the insights for variation patterns among different populations in two species, and these results may offer scientific basis for domestication and hybridization of tulips in China. The main results were as follows:1. Twelve Tulipa species germinated and grew rapidly with melting snow and precipitation in early spring, and their fruits became mature in the first ten days of June before the arrival of rigorous weather in summer. Reproductive growth period accounted for more than two thirds of annual development cycle which ranged from sixty to ninety days, therefore, these species should belong to typical ephemeral plants escaping from drought. There were differences in main phenological periods among the observed species, and temperature was the dominant influencing factors. Twelve Tulipa species were classified into different phenological types in main phenophase based on results of cluster analysis according to environmental factors.2. Twenty-four morphological characters of plants in eleven populations of T. iliensis were observed and analyzed. The results showed that there were differences in annual development cycle and flowering initiation period in the same year among different populations, but these variances were not existed within population in different years. The differences of phenophase among populations were related to their altitude factors. Differentiations of qualitative characters were mainly occurred in leave traits. Results of one-way ANOVA indicated that all selected quantitative traits had extremely notable differentiation among populations. Furthermore, coefficients of variations in vegetative organs were greater than those in reproductive ones. Plant height, stem diameter, length of the first and second leaf, length of ovary, width of anther, length and width of outer tepal, length of inner tepal and seed were the mainly variable quantitative characters. Based on the wild and field observations and the results of cluster analysis, the differentiation patterns of T. iliensis had a close relation with the habitat and altitudes factors.