ABSTRACT
AIM: To apply molecular systematic techniques to revealing the genetic diversity of medicinal plant of Dendrobium candidum and its related species in Dendrobium.METHODS: The internal transcribed spacer(ITS) as well as 5.8S rDNA sequences of 40 samples of 25 species of Dendrobium were carried out on 25 dendrobi-um samples and amplified using PCR method and sequenced.Mega 3.1 was used to analyze the genetic diversity within the genus.Phylogenetic relationships among species in Dendrobium were estimated by maximum parsimony and neighbor-joining methods to construct similar ITS trees.RESULTS: The phylogenetic analysis indicated that Dendrobium candidum had a markedly difference in the interspecies and possessed the characteristic sequence site.CONCLUSION: ITS sequences as a good molecular marker for authentication between Dendrobium and outgroup is feasibility.