The study of the taxonomic relationship and phylogeny for 16 taxa of Korean Polygonatum was conducted using cluster and cladistic analyses based on morphological, anatomical and cytological characters. The result of cluster analysis showed that the Korean species of the genus clustered into two groups such as verticillated phyllotaxis or alternated one. In addition, the taxa having alternated phyllotaxis were classified into another two groups dependent on the presence/absence of bract. Among bracteate taxa, P. inflatum and P. acuminatifolium were clearly distinguished from others. The cladistic analysis result suggested that this genus had been diverged into two clades. One Glade include the taxa having bract, and the other without bract. The taxa with basic chromosome number of x=10 differentiated to the taxa having x=11 in the bracteated taxa. Furthermore, the result indicated that the taxa having 10 basic chromosomes (x=10) distinguished from those having x=9 in the ebracteated taxa. The result also demonstrated that the taxa having verticillated phyllotaxis were divided from the taxa with characteristics of alternated phyllotaxis, ebracteated and x=10 through changes of some characters.
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