Twenty-three plants of Japanese apricot (Prunus mume) were collected from several sites around Mountains JIRI in Korea. Japanese apricots having the different morphological features were evenly distributed in the groups made from the cluster analysis, indicating no geographic distributions but artificial vegetations in Korea. Japanese apricots were, as based on the PCR-RAPD techniques, clustered into the three groups; a group (prototype) having the five white petals with the five red sepals, a group (green type) having the five white petals with the five green sepals, and a group (hybrid type) having the more than five red petals with various colored sepals. The prototype apricots showed higher toxicities than other type apricot against bacteria and production of less compounds in TLC plates. The polypetal types of Japanes apricot were related to those of p. armebiaca in the characteristics of seed (the ruggedness), but also to be closed to those of p. armebiaca in PCR-RAPD analysis. The cluster analysis of the twenty three apricots and its related species calculated from the two primers were shown to distinguish relationships of cultivars within species, or of individual plants within cultivars, but also to display the two overlapping bands resulted from PCR-RAPD technique.

• Jun-Ki Lee
• Sang-Ki Hyun
• Sang-Sun Lee
• Jung-Ki Chai