Spinach (Spinacia oleraceae L.), an annual plant of the chenopodiaceae family, has been grown in Iran for about two thousand years. There are many various landraces of this plant in Iran, but no research has so far been carried out for identification and evaluation of these landraces. For an evaluation of genetic diversity of Iranian spinach landraces, 29 genotypes were collected from different regions of Iran, their quantity and quality traits being evaluated. Results indicated that there are highly significant differences among most of the studied landrace characteristics at 5 and
1% levels. The plants produced different ranges of leaf number before flowering. In landraces evaluated, the plants produced 12-23 leaves before flowering. Also according to the time of flowering, they were classified as: early, moderate and late flowering. Results indicated that the time of flowering varied from 135 to 180 days after planting and before they entered the reproductive phase. Among landraces the percentage of female plants varied from 39.00 to 68.33. The mean yield in the studied landraces was 715.8 to 2707.3 gm-2. According to cluster analysis, landraces were classified into 4 clusters with 7, 9, 7, and 6 landraces, respectively. Evaluation of poloidy levels of landraces indicated that all were diploid (2n= 12). The results of this research showed that native landraces of Iranian spinach are of high variations, and can be used as valuable genetic resources for breeding programs.
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