A NUMERICAL CLASSIFICATION OF THE CULTIVARS OF CHINESE HERBACEOUS PEONY

The present paper deals with the numerical classification of the cultivars of Chinese herbaceous peony(Paeonia lactiflora).Fifty-six characters within 60 cultivars of Chinese herbaceous peony were selected to the numerical classification.Results obtained through Qcluster analysis showed that the cultivars were classified into two groups:single-flower groups and prolification-flower group.Each group was divided into two subgroups:hundred-petals subgroup and crown subgroup.And then all these cultivars were classified into 14 flower types.The facter analysis of cultivars of Chinese herbaceous peony showed that Rcluster analysis indicated the biological distances between the characters.Progressive regression analysis indicated the factors which have more influence on the flower type.