The Population Genetic Structure Of The Showy Lady's-Slipper Orchid (Cypripedium Reginae Walter) In Its Glaciated And Unglaciated Ranges

Cypripedium reginae is a terrestrial orchid with a boreal-temperate main range and a glacial-disjunct southern range primarily in the southern Appalachian Mountains. During the summer of 2001, tissue for allozyme and RAPD analysis was collected from four populations of C. reginae in its glaciated range of Ohio, and from five populations in its unglaciated range. Allozyme analysis of 10 putative loci revealed a single polymorphic PGM locus in 7 of 9 populations . . . RAPD data indicated slightly higher estimations of genetic diversity than allozymes at the species and population level, although much of this variation was distributed among populations. Allozyme data indicated low species and population-level diversity when compared to average values for plants, other orchids and other Cypripedium species.