Two genetically distinct units of Sinomanglietia glauca (Magnoliaceae) detected by chloroplast PCR-SSCP

Sinomanglietia glauca is a critically endangered species described from Jiangxi Province in the 1990s. Recently two populations were discovered from Yongshun County of west Hunan Province, about 450 km away from those in Jiangxi. Because of the new findings and the poor reproducibility inherent to RAPD and ISSR markers of previous studies, the population structure of this rare species was reanalyzed with chloroplast PCR‐SSCP (single‐stranded conformation polymorphism), including all of four recorded populations. The results showed that two distinct haplotypes characterized Jiangxi and Hunan populations separately, with no genetic variation occurring within regions. We postulated that this surprising pattern might result from habitat fragmentation and demographic bottlenecks during and/or after the Quaternary glaciation. On the basis of the pronounced genetic structure, two evolutionarily significant units (ESUs) were recommended for effective conservation of S. glauca.