The phenotypic traits of different provenances of Tilia amurensis were analyzed to reveal the pattern of variation and genetic diversity.

126 excellent individual plants were collected from ten provenances of Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning Province. Fourteen phenotypic traits were determined and analyzed by multiple comparisons, correlation analysis, nested analysis of variance, correlation analysis, principal component analysis and (PCA) and cluster analysis.

The results showed that the variation coefficient of 14 phenotypic traits from 10 provenances ranged from 6.68% to 43.73%. The genetic diversity index (H′) ranged from 1.71 to 2.03. The variation within provenances (76.86%) was higher than that among provenances (23.14%). The results of correlation analysis showed that there was a high degree of correlation among leave traits and flower traits. Principal component analysis showed that the cumulative contribution rate of the first five principal components reached 94.10%. The first principal component mainly reflected the indexes of leaves. The second principal component mainly reflected the index of bract. The third principal component mainly reflected the branch growth and vein index. The fourth and fifth principal component reflected the leaf shape and pedicel index. According to the comprehensive evaluation model, the comprehensive ranking of the ten provenances from high to low was Chaihe, Lushuihe, Dongfanghong, Kuandian, Yichun, Jiaohe, Jian, Raohe and Huma. The 10 provenances of T. amurensis were divided into three categories by cluster analysis.

The variation within provenances of T. amurensis was relatively high and was dominant. The results provided theoretical basis for the conservation and development of T. amurensis germplasm resources.