Molecular Markers in the Identification of Some Early Flowering Curcuma L. (Zingiberaceae) Species

In this paper, isozymes have been used for the first time astools to aid identification of someCurcuma L. species that arestill taxonomically confused. These markers were employed toconfirm the taxonomic identification and to distinguish thetaxa analysed; the results were used to describe the relationshipwithin the early-flowering group. Twenty-one isozymes were initiallytested; out of these, eight isozymes showed reliable polymorphismto distinguish between the taxa analysed. Patterns from isozymedata were analysed using cluster analysis and UPGMA to producea dendrogram depicting the degree of relationship among thespecies. Copyright 1999 Annals of Botany Company Curcuma, Zingiberaceae, isozymes, species identification.