Abstract:In order to understand the variation pattern and adaptive mechanism of endemic medicinal plant Berberis guizhouensis Ying (Berberidaceae) from Guizhou Province, its characteristics of vegetative organs and flowers in field populations were studied in Weining Xian, Guizhou Province, southwestern China. The description of the floral characters was supplemented. The results showed that there was abundant variation among different traits within a population and the same trait in different populations. Coefficient of variation (CV) ranged from 0.03 to 0.57, and the CV values of vegetative traits were higher than those of floral traits. One-Way ANOVA analysis revealed that there was significant difference in some flower characters among populations (P<0.05). Cluster analysis showed that Xiaobaiyan population formed a separate clade, which could be caused by environment pressure selection. PCA analysis showed that there was coordinated ecological adaptation between floral and vegetation traits in maintaining the stability of morphological structure.
