Inheritance and Variation of Allozymes in<i>Panax ginseng</i>C.A. Meyer (Araliaceae)

Three natural populations of Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer are known at present, and all of them are located in Russia’s Maritime Provinces. Allozyme analysis of 109 ginseng plants was used to evaluate the genetic variability in natural populations of this species. Three enzyme loci were polymorphic among 39 loci studied, and the mode of inheritance of these enzymes was verified by subsequent inheritance analysis of progeny from controlled crosses. All alleles were found in each population, and differences in allele frequencies were not significant. The level of variation was low for all of the populations studied, although genetic variability is still retained in Russia’s P. ginseng populations. The mean proportion of polymorphic loci for all of the populations was 0.076, with the mean number of alleles per locus 1.076. The mean expected heterozygosity and the mean observed heterozygosity were 0.024 and 0.023, respectively. We suggest that the low level of genetic variability of P. ginseng may reflect the evolutionary history of this species, such as a genetic bottleneck and/or the founder effect. Additionally, small current population sizes and intensive long‐term exploitation of the species may have also contributed to the low genetic diversity of P. ginseng.