Morphological Variation of Cultivated and Weedy Types in Perilla Crop Collected from South Korea

Background: Perilla (Perilla frutescens L.) has been widely cultivated and used for medicinal use, aromatic, functional food, and ornamental plant in South Korea. To understand the morphological variation in the cultivated and weedy types of Perilla (CWTP) collected from South Korea, 52 accessions collected from different areas were evlauated using one quantitative and 10 qualitative characteristics. Methods and Results: Principal component analysis (PCA) was performed using the NTSYS-pc V2.1 program to detect the differences among the accessions of the CWTP. Multivariate analysis was performed using Microsoft Excel Statistical Analysis System. The cultivated P. frutescens var. frutescens and two weedy types of Perilla crop were accurately distinguished based on he 11 morphological characteristics, paricularly seed related traits, used in the study. PCA results showed that, most morphological characteristics such as weight per 100 seeds (QN1), color of leaf adaxial side (QL1), color of leaf abaxial side (QL2), stem color (QL4), flower color (QL5), seed size (QL9), and seed hardness (QL10) provided a significant contribution in the positive or negative direction on the first axis. These characteristics are considered useful for distinguishing between accessions of the CWTP collected from South Korea. Conclusions: The accessions of weedy P. frutescens var. frutescens are located between the accessions of cultivated P. frutescens var. frutescens and the those of weedy P. frutescens var. crispa on the first axis. Although the cultivated and weedy types of P. frutescens var. frutescens and the two weedy types of P. frutescens var. frutescens and P. frutescens var. crispa cannot be completely distinguished, the results provide useful information for future studies on the identification and classification of CWTP germplasm accessions collected from different areas in South Korea.