Effects of environmental and genetic factors on phenotypic traits and species classification of Dendrobium huoshanense

Aims: Dendrobium is one of the largest genera in Orchidaceae.The species of this genus are characterized by high morphological diversity.Dendrobium huoshanense is an endemic species of China with high pharmaceutical and conservation value.However, the boundary of the species is still in debate.In this study, we aim to explore the variations of phenotypic traits affected by environmental and genetic factors, and define the boundaries among D. huoshanense and its related species.Methods: We measured 12 phenotypic traits from 2,279 specimens in 16 populations from the dendrobiums planting base in Huoshan County, Anhui Province, East China, including wild and F 1 , F 2 generation of D. huoshanense, wild D. henanense, D. moniliforme and D. catenatum.The F 1 and F 2 generations of D. huoshanense were cultivated from the seeds of random hand-pollination flowers in wild population and F 1 generation population from this base, respectively.We first used common-garden experiment method and intergenerational comparison to estimate the phenotypic •研究报告•