RAPD analysis was performed to discuss the taxonomic status and phylogenetic relationships among the tribe Forsythieae and related groups. Two hundred and eighteen scorable polymorphic bands were detected from fourteen oligonucleotide primers. From the results of RAPD analysis by Nei and Li's genetic distance, each individuals of Abeliophyllum distichum showed high genetic relationships with ranging from 0.085 to 0.301, also the genus Forsythia showed from 0.042 to 0.655 among the species and populations. But, Abeliophyllum and Forsythia showed distinct dissimilarity, ranging from 0.610 to 1.258. And genetic differences among the population of Forsythia were 0.042 in F. koreana, 0.275 in F. saxatilis, 0.275 in F. ovata, 0.279 in F. nakaii, and 0.249 in F. viridissima. The UPGMA phenogram of tribe Forsythieae based on the results of RAPD analysis were presented that Abeliophyllum is distinct genus different from Forsythia. NJ tree which applied as the outgroups Fontanesia and Jasminum was derived, and it showed that tribe Forsythieae might be a monophyletic group. The genus Fontanesia was showed as sister group of tribe Forsythieae. Among the populations of taxa in Forsythia, F. koreana and F. saxatilis were more closely related, and F. ovata and F. nakaii were very closely related to F.japonica. And Fontanesia was the sister group of tribe Forsythieae.

• Kyoung-Hwan Tae
• Dong-Kap Kim
• Joo-Hwan Kim