Abstract: Primula obconica has been cultivated widely as a popular garden plant. In order to
discover the pattern of genetic diversity and the evolutionary process, a total of 278
individuals from 17 populations throughout its distribution in China were analyzed using
chloroplast microsatellites (cpSSRs) markers. Four loci and a total of 14 haplotypes were
identified by our data set. The total gene diversity (HT =0.971) is high, while gene diversity
within populations (HS=0.028) is low. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) shows that
about 98% variation is among populations. The results suggest that past fragmentation and
limited dispersal ability of seeds might play important roles in forming the present genetic
structure. A significantly higher value of Nst than that of Gst indicates that closely related
haplotypes are often found in the same area, and we found two different groups in the
minimum spanning tree (MST), which occupy different geographic regions. Furthermore,
older haplotypes were detected in the two groups, respectively. Possible refugia are inferred in
western Hubei Province and SW China during the glacial period.

Key words: Primula obconica, genetic diversity, chloroplast microsatellite, glacial period, refugia