Abstract: Based on phenotypic analysis and SRAP markers，genetic diversity among 56 cultivars of
cut chrysanthemum were analyzed. Variation analysis showed that there were 21 characters which
presented the high consistency within cultivars and the distinct specificity between cultivars. Principal
component analysis showed that flower characters such as inflorescence diameter，inflorescence form and
petal type et al contributed mainly to the principal components，while leaf and stem characters as a secondary contribution. The results indicated that it would be necessary to primarily consider the flower traits，then
leaf and stem traits，as the criterion of classification and identification for cut chrysanthemum. Phenotypic
UPGMA clustering analysis showed that 56 cut chrysanthemum cultivars were classified into flat type，
spatulate type，irregular type，spatulate-flat type and tubiform type groups，which were mainly according
to three-grades classification as Inflorescence diameter–Petal type–Inflorescence form. 14 SRAP primer
pairs were screened and generated 423 polymorphic bands among 454 bands in total，which the percentage
of polymorphic bands reached 93.17%. The values of polymorphism information content（PIC）ranged
from 0.72 to 0.89 with an average of 0.82. These results indicated there was abundant genetic diversity
among cut chrysanthemum cultivars. UPGMA clustering analysis with SRAP markers showed 56 cultivars
with the genetic coefficient ranged from 0.64 to 0.97 were divided into spatulate-flat type，irregular type
and tubiform type groups，which were also according to three-grades classification as Inflorescence
diameter–Petal type–Inflorescence form. Mantel’s test with correlation coefficient of 0.682 indicated that
the high accordance between phenotypic and molecular markers analysis，suggesting both analysis could
well reflect the genetic relationship of cut chrysanthemum cultivars.

Key words: cut chrysanthemum, phenotypic characters, SRAP marker, cultivar classification, genetic
diversity