Study on the relationship between morphological variation and geographic origin for white clover

Morphological characteristics and the relationship between morphological variation and geographic origin in 68 accessions of white clovers (Trifolium repens) were estimated. These white clovers were at latitude of 1.02 N-55.8 N, at longitude of 87.12 E-8.9 W, in elevation of 2-2 804 m and belonged to 29 countries. The results showed that the largest variation was found in leaf area, followed by inflorescences per unit area and plant height, and the less variation was found in height of fertile tillers and florets per inflorescence. Mantel test showed that changes of three characters, including plant height, inflorescences per unit area and florets per inflorescence, existed significant spatial correlation, while the correlation was not significant between leaf area (or height of fertile tillers) and spatial distribution. Cluster analyses showed that there was significant correlation between morphological variation and geographic origin of white clovers and different origin of white clovers had similar genetic differentiation. The morphological variation in white clovers originated in European showed different evolutionary direction