EN
Artemisia is an important genus of Asteraceae and has a high number of taxa, ecological and economic importance. Its natural classification has not been achieved and the taxonomists are trying to solve the problem of its classification over the last two decades. The genus Artemisia can be divided into five large sections namely: Absinthium DC, Artemisia L., Dracunculus Besser, Seriphidium Besser and Tridentatae (Rybd.). In the present study, three species (A. vulgaris, A. roxburghiana and A. absinthium) belonging to groups Artemisia (A. vulgaris and A. roxburghiana) and Absinthium (A. absinthium) were collected from Rawalakot, Azad Jammu and Kashmir. The species were analyzed for the assessment of morphological and genetic diversity and relationship was estimated among and within the different species of Artemisia. The morphological and molecular data were analyzed using software NTSYS (Numerical Taxonomy and Multivariate Analysis System) pc version 2.01. For molecular study, random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD) was used to detect genetic variations among the species. Out of the ten random primers used, nine have given amplification profiles. A total 611 bands were produced by all the primers, of which 419 were polymorphic and level of polymorphism was detected to be 68% across all the samples of studied species. Based on the results obtained, it has been observed that there is a wide range of diversity both at morphological and molecular level among and within the species. Further, mixed pattern of grouping in cluster analysis was found, indicating the close affinities of species with each other.