Morphological Variations between Korean and Southwestern Japanese Lilium leichtlinii Hook. f.

This study aimed to examine detailed morphological variations within Lilium leichtlinii Hook. f. For investigation, two groups, Korean L. leichtlinii (KR group) and southwestern Japanese broad-leaved L. leichtlinii (JSW group), were compared. In total, 52 morphological characteristics (45 quantitative and 7 qualitative traits) were examined in 59 lily accessions (30 KR and 29 JSW). Forty quantitative traits showed significant heterogeneity (p < 0.05) between JSW and KR accessions, and all seven color-related qualitative traits also exhibited differences. Student’s t-tests and principal component analysis (PCA) revealed that major quantitative morphological differences between the two groups included plant height, internode length, upper leaf size, and number of new bulbs. Cluster analysis of 36 morphological traits showed that the KR and JSW accessions belonged to two distinct groups. All together, these results indicate that KR and JSW groups are distal within L. leichtlinii, suggesting that the two groups could be considered different varieties.