3.4 | Leaf characters
In PCA of leaf characters, PC1 contributed to 81.4% of variation among leaves (Figure 7a). Because all the measurements of leaf parts increased as PC1 decreased, PC1 indicated leaf size (Figure 7a).
Leaves of Qch populations tended to have higher PC1 values (smaller leaves) than those of Qc populations, although the PC1 values were overlapped among the taxa (Figure 7b). The median of PC1 values in each population tended to be higher in eight Qchpopulations, including three populations 05Hx, 06Hx, and 07Hx of the genetic group of Qc , and tended to be lower in four Qcpopulations (Figure 7c).