Fritillaria cirrhosa D. Don is an endangered perennial herb which has important medicinal properties. Because of its wide distribution and complex morphology, numerous closely related species were suggested to be F. cirrhosa, also due to obscure differences between species. These species, however, are also increasingly endangered due to overexploitation. So far, there are few systematic studies on population genetics of these species. Here, we used amplified fragment-length polymorphism markers to assess genetic diversity, population structures, and evolutionary relationships of F. cirrhosa and closely related species. We found that at species level, F. cirrhosa showed the highest genetic diversity (H_SP = 0.2960), whereas F. dajinensis showed the lowest value (H_SP = 0.1785). At population level, the mean value of genetic diversity was highest in F. unibracteata (H_POP = 0.2609) and was lowest in F. dajinensis (H_POP = 0.1785). In F. cirrhosa, the populations located in central distributions (HLS, DDS and DQ) produced the high genetic diversity, whereas the marginal populations (YD and QJ) showed little variation. Genetic differentiation among populations was relatively low (0.0622 to 0.1561) which was similar to molecular variance analyses showing only 19.15% variation between populations. The 30 initial populations were roughly assigned to six clusters, using an UPGMA dendrogram. The cluster containing F. cirrhosa was relatively complex and comprised multiple lineages. STRUCTURE and principal component analyses also supported the complex evolutionary relationships among species. We found that widely distributed species generally showed higher genetic diversity than more endemic species. Furthermore, F. cirrhosa populations in the central Hengduan Mountains were likely better protected, based on their substantially higher genetic diversity, compared to margin populations. This study provides reference for conservation and sustainable use of F. cirrhosa and closely related species.

川贝母D. Don是一种具有重要药用特性的濒危多年生草本植物。由于其分布广泛且形态复杂，因此许多紧密相关的物种被认为是桔梗，也是由于物种之间的晦涩差异。但是，由于过度开发，这些物种也越来越受到威胁。迄今为止，关于这些物种的种群遗传学的系统研究很少。在这里，我们使用了扩增的片段长度多态性标记来评估遗传多样性，种群结构以及桔梗和紧密相关物种的进化关系。我们发现，在物种水平上，西番莲显示出最高的遗传多样性（H _SP= 0.2960），而金丝雀（F. dajinensis）显示最低值（H _SP = 0.1785）。在群体水平，遗传多样性的平均值最高的是F.暗紫（ħ _POP = 0.2609），并在最低F. dajinensis（ħ _POP = 0.1785）。在西番莲中位于中央分布的种群（HLS，DDS和DQ）具有很高的遗传多样性，而边缘种群（YD和QJ）几乎没有变异。种群之间的遗传分化相对较低（0.0622至0.1561），这与分子变异分析相似，表明种群之间的变异仅为19.15％。使用UPGMA树状图，将30个初始种群大致分为六个聚类。含有桔梗镰刀菌的簇相对复杂，由多个谱系组成。结构和主成分分析也支持物种间复杂的进化关系。我们发现，广泛分布的物种通常比更多特有物种具有更高的遗传多样性。此外，西番莲与边缘人群相比，横断山脉中部的种群遗传多样性高得多，因此可能得到更好的保护。该研究为桔梗和紧密相关物种的保护与可持续利用提供了参考。