Iran is considered as one of the major centers of plant biodiversity. There are very diverse natural environments that lead to the high genetic diversity in plants. Rosa foetida also known as Persian yellow biar is one of the important species amongst 13 rose species that occur in Iran. It is a dense erect shrub (up to 2 m) with bright yellow or scarlet flowers with a yellowish reverse petal. It is a most abundant in South West Asia. In Iran R. foetida occurs mainly in the North and West regions notably in Tehran west Azarbaijan and Kurdestan provinces which are mountainous and contain very diverse habitats. In addition some plants can be found in Eastern and southern Iran. It is reported that this species has a strong yellow color in modern roses. In this study we have used 10 microsatellite markers to determine diversity in Rosa foetida accessions collected across Iran. The dendrogram obtained using dice similarity coefficient resulted in only 2 genotypes. To our surprise most of the samples collected showed the same genotype even if they were collected at different sites and only two accessions were representative the other genotype. The results are discussed in relation to breeding system, human influence and overall gene pool status.

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