Growth andMorphology Differences between and within Aesculus Species

Tw o genetic trails including eight seed sources o f three nativeAescu lus species and tw enty plus tree fam ilies o fA. chinensis var. chekiangensis from Tong lu o f Zhejiang w ere used to exp lore the genetic variation be tw eenand w ith in A esculus spec ies for seed, g row th and morpho logy tra its at seed ling and young stage. The resu lts demonstrated that there w ere significant d ifferences fo r g row th and morpho logy characteristics among eight provenances ofthreeAesculus species. Among threeAesculus species, seeds ofA. w ilsonii were the b igges,t seeds o fA. ch inensisthe m iddle and seeds ofA. chinensis var. chekiangensis the leas.t Seed sources o fA. w ilsonii w ith b igger seedsw eregenera lly from the southern and southw estern areas. Itw as found that the spec ies/provenances from the seed sourcesw ith b ig seeds possessed greater seedling grow th, ex tensive tap and la teral roo t system, and larger leaves. Seedlingtest resu lt o f species/provenance grow th w as no t used to pred icted the grow th performance at young stage, because ofmarked seedmaternal effec.t A. chinensis var. chekiangensis from Lin a'n o fZhe jiangw ith least seeds have best grow thperformance, and w hileA. w ilsonii from M abian of S ichuan w ith b iggest seeds exh ib itedm ediate grow th perform anceat age tw o. Moreover, there ex isted rich fam ily varia tion for g row th andmorpho logy of seed ling and young trees inA.chinensis var. chekiangensis. Seed ling g row th o f fam ilies w as sign ificantly and positive ly related to the ir young treegrow th. Early se lection o f grow th traits cou ld conduct at seedling stage.