Inflorescence trait diversity of Longan germplasm

The inflorescence traits of 71 longan germplasms in the National Field Genebank for Longan in Fuzhou were studied. The result showed that (1) the inflorescence was 19.9-39.4 cm long and 14.0-33.0 cm wide with 4.4-13.3 secondary peduncles and 7.1-8.8 stamens in the male flower; (2) the variation coefficient of these five quartified characteristics ranged from 4.9% to 20.0%; (3) the length of the inflorescence was significantly correlated with the width or number of the axis; (4) the inflorescence width was significantly correlated with the number of axis; (5) each of the five characteristics had five different levels with rather different ratios among them; (6) the inflorescence length and width of the germplasms from different area varied greatly the length of the inflorescence of the germplasm from Guangdong was significantly longer than that from Fujian,and the corolla diameter of the germplasm from Fujian was significantly bigger than that from Guangdong; and (7) there were differences on the inflorescence of these longan germplasms in regard to the density of flower cluster,stigma shape,color of flower axis and color of flower bud as well the majority of the inflorescences (i.e.,50.7%) had an "r" shaped stigma,the fork-shaped the least; the majority of the inflorescence had reddish-brown axis (i.e.,60.6%),the green-colored the least; and the greatest majority of buds were light green in color (i.e.,81.7%).