Vaccinium stamineum is a shrub of dry woods throughout eastern North America. This species reproduces by seed and vegetative sprouts from rhizomes that are up to 1m long. In the fire-maintained sandhill communities on the Savannah River Site, South Carolina, V. stamineum forms distinct patches ranging from a few stems to aggregates of stems up to 30 m in diameter. The objective of this research was to determine if the distinct patches of V. stamineum are ramets of a single genet or composed of multiple genets. We assessed genet diversity in 25 of 78 patches in a 1 ha area with randomly amplified of polymorphic DNAs (RAPDs). Preliminary analyses of 8 polymorphic loci resolved with one primer distinguished 33 of 256 possible genotypes over the site. The number of genotypes per patch averaged 1.8 (range 1 to 3; 5 samples/patch). Of the patches sampled, data indicated that 50% of the patches had at least two genets and 25 % had more than 2 genets. These data indicate that V. stamineum patches are composed of aggregates of ramets from multiple genets.

Key words: genet, genetic diversity, ramet, RAPDs, Vaccinium stamineum