Abstract:In order to understand the genetic diversity of Scleropyrum wallichianum in Yunnan, the genetic variations of eighty-six germplasms from seven populations were analyzed by using AFLP markers. Eight pairs of AFLP primers with high and stable polymorphism were selected, amplified 1 728 DNA bands, of which 1 388 bands were polymorphic, accounting for 80.14%. The genetic diversity indexes at the species level were Na=1.416, Ne=1.179, H=0.137, I=0.225, and at the population level were H=0.111, I=0.175. At similarity coefficient of 0.52, all germplasms could be divided into three groups. The population YW had abundant genetic diversity, and most of genetic variation existed within populations, while genetic variation among populations was 11.5% under confidence interval of 0.05. There was no significant correlation between genetic distance and geographical distance among populations (r=0.0323, P=0.5820). Therefore, in situ and ex situ protections would be proposed for increasing genetic diversity of S. wallichianum germplasms.