Morphological Variations Between Cultivated Types of Perilla Crop and Their Weedy Types in Korea and Japan

In order to better understand the morphological differentiation of the two cultivated types of Perilla crop and their weedy types in Korea and Japan, we studied the variation of 62 accessions by examining 15 morphological characteristics. By using ANOVA (one-way analysis of variance), we determined that var. frutescens and var. crispa showed significant morphological differences in terms of plant height and seed weight. Furthermore, cultivated var. frutescens and var. crispa could also be clearly discriminated from one another using PCA (principal component analysis). Specifically, quantitative and qualitative characteristics such as plant height, seed weight, degree of pubescence, shape of leaf, color of leaf, fragrance of plant, color of flower, color of stem and seed size greatly contributed to differences seen in the positive and negative direction on the first axis. In our study, most accessions of cultivated var. frutescens and those of its weedy type could be clearly discriminated from one another, however, most accessions of cultivated and weedy types of var. crispa were not clearly discriminated by the ANOVA and PCA analyses. These results indicated that cultivated var. frutescens can be considered to be a domesticated form, while the cultivated var. crispa can not be considered to be a domesticated form in Korea and Japan. It is our belief that our results concerning the morphological variations among cultivated types of Perilla crop and their weedy types in Korea and Japan will help ensure the long-term success of breeding programs and maximize the use of the germplasm resources in Korea.