Abstract:Camellia changii Ye is a rare and endangered species endemic to China. It is confined to the E’huangzhang Nature Reserve at Yangchun City, southwestern Guangdong Province, South China. The genetic diversity was studied using Inter-Simple Sequence Repeat (ISSR) markers. A total of 60 individuals from two subpopulations were sampled. Ten primers with discernible DNA bands were applied. The percentage of polymorphic bands (PPB), Nei’s Index and Shannon’s Index were 55.29%, 0.2191 and 0.3215, respectively. The coefficient of gene differentiation (GST) was 0.0922. These results indicate that C. changii has low genetic diversity and low differentiation between the two subpopulations. Small population size and human disturbances are the main limiting factors for the extant population. Further studies on the factors limiting population development are urgently required.
