XVI International Botanical Congess

Specimens of S. shortii from 6 populations and specimens of three common congeners, S. nemoralis, S. canadensis, and S. ulmifolia. Solidago shortii was shown, through Principle Components Analysis, to possess a greater level of phenotypic variability than the other three more common species. Twelve isozyme/allozyme loci were examined from two sampled populations to determine the phenotypic variability at the molecular level. All of the enzyme profiles were uniform for a total of 30 plants from two populations. Thus, the morphological data indicate a species with high phenotypic variability, and possibly high genetic diversity, while the limited molecular data provide a contrasting image of minimal genetic diversity.