菊花(Chrysanthemum × morifolium Ramat.)是花卉王国中的一朵奇葩。她起源于中国并被传遍世界。在1 600年的栽培历史中, 融入了丰富的文化内涵和高超的园艺栽培技术, 经培育形成了近3万个品种, 其变异类型之丰富被称为园艺育种史上的奇迹, 是全人类的共同财富。近50年来, 中国园艺学界利用形态学、细胞分类学、同工酶和分子标记技术结合数量分类学和分支分类学的方法, 对其野生近缘种和主要栽培类群展开了大量研究工作, 为菊花育种积累了资料。但面对丰富的中国菊花种质资源, 对其数量和质量的研究仍显不足。特别是对传统品种研究不够, 制约了中国菊花产业化发展。对菊花品种资源进行调查、收集和保存并构建核心种质, 进而对其开发潜力进行评价, 仍然是一项十分艰苦和重要的基础工作。结合现代生物学技术, 对其主要生物学性状的遗传稳定性进行分析。通过了解其形成机理, 对于菊花品种资源的开发和利用具有重要意义。

Chrysanthemum × morifolium Ramat., an exotic flower, originated in China, has spread throughout the world. During 1 600 years’ cultivation history, rich cultural connotation and horticulture cultivation techniques for this plant have emerged. Chrysanthemum is a miracle in the horticulture breeding history because it has almost 30 000 varieties. In the past 50 years , work on wild relatives and cultivation groups of chrysanthemum has involved study of morphology, cytotaxonomy , isozymes, DNA fingerprints, numerical taxonomy and cladistics. Despite much data on breeding of chrysanthemum, the quantity and quality of its resources are still inadequate as compared with its large number of cultivars. Especially, little study of traditional varieties restricts the development of industrialization of Chinese chrysanthemum. The collection, preservation, study and evaluation of chrysanthemum germplasm are important and involve much effort. Analysis of biological characteristics and genetic stability of ornamental characters, combined with modern biology techniques, is important to develop and use chrysanthemum variety resources.