It has been known that both Korean and Japanese wild tea were introduced from China around AD 800. However, the original population from which they were introduced was not confirmed, yet. We investigated the morphological and genetic variations using RAPD of Korean and Japanese wild tea plants and compared with their genetic differences based on the results. Twenty two superior individuals from 19 wild tea populations of Korea were selected and 19 superior cultivars of Japan were introduced for this study. Seeds collected from 6 wild populations of Korea were planted in Tea Experimental Station in Japan at 1994 and the progenies were compared with 6 year old Japanese wild tea seedlings. Characteristics of leaf morphology of Korean wild tea plants were similar to those of Chinese small leaf variety while Japanese wild tea revealed to be more tolerant to cold. Japanese cultivars have thick leaf that indicates a higher yield. Most conspicuous difference was seen in the flower structure which means a different breeding pattern in Korean and Japanese populations. RAPD results clearly demonstrated the difference between Korean and Japanese wild populations. From the results, we concluded that there are significant genetic differences between Korean and Japanese wild tea populations and, therefore, the original populations from which they were introduced are different.
(0)
(0)