The genus Crataegus known as hawthorns is the largest genus among the Maloideae which comprises 265 species. Iran is one of the genetic centers of Crataegus and there are more than 22 species found in Iran. The genus Crataegus is well distributed in East and North and West as a wild plant, with numerous, inherently variable species and genotypes. To date, hawthorn has been the subject of only a few genetic studies and, therefore, the present study was aimed to evaluate genetic diversity among some genus of hawthorn (Crataegus spp. Pajarkova.) for further use to horticultural research program in Iran. Using morphological characteristics in more than 30 different traits in this experiment related to species was studied and measured. The results of cluster analysis showed that the obtained pattern, in which the species were assigned into three separate major groups. At the first group including four species which belong to the C. szovitsii, C.orientalis, C. pentagyna subsp. pentagyna and C. pentagyna subsp. pseudomelanocarpa The second groups include four species C. microphylla var. microphylla, C. microphylla var. dolichocarpa, C. sakranensis and C.curvisepala. At the next groups included the C.monogyna var. lasiocarpa, C. pseudoheterophylla subsp. turcomanica, C. pseudoheterophylla subsp. turkestanica, C. songarica,C. atrosanguinea, C. meyeri, C. ambigua, C. assadii, C. azarolus var. pontica, C. azarolus var. aronia, C. pseudoheterophylla subsp. pseudoheterophylla and C .kurdistanica.

Keywords