Abstract
Flowering cherries utilized as tourism resources in Izu, Japan are presumed to be interspecific hybrids. In this study, we investigated the genetic relationships among these flowering cherries using 9 nuclear SSR markers and 2 regions of chloroplast DNA sequences. According to the genetic identity based on nuclear SSRs, flowering cherries in Izu were divided into two groups. One was the Prunus lannesiana var. speciosa group, and the other was the P. campanulata group. However, many hybrids and P. campanulata shared the same sequence type of chloroplast DNA. These findings suggested that natural crossing among hybrids of P. lannesiana var. speciosa and P. campanulata often occurred in Izu. Therefore, we hypothesized that hybrid varieties in Izu developed near a human settlement near which P. lannesiana var. speciosa and P. campanulata were often planted in. Then, it was thought that these hybrids were valuable genetic resources for breeding to promote the large petals of P. lannesiana var. speciosa, dark red petals of P. campanulata and so on. Moreover, it was suggested that ‘Minato-zakura’ originated with a tetraploid (4n) of P. pseudocerasus as the mother, and that there are some individuals that were seedlings of ‘Kawazu-zakura’ and extremely closely related to ‘Kawazu-zakura’.
