Clove is an economically valuable spice plant with numerous health and food-related benefits. The abundance of clove with higher diversity was prevalent in the Haya Village, Seram Island, renowned as the largest clove-producing center in Maluku, Indonesia. The presented research sought to quantitatively and qualitatively analyze the morphological diversity and genetic makeup of five clove accessions using seven RAPD primers. The results of coefficient variation showed that the leaf area holds the highest value (62.7%) compared with the petiole length (18.67%). Hierarchical cluster analysis based on 11 morphological traits, including crown shape, trunk type, bark type, branching direction, leaf shape, leaf apex shape, leaf base shape, leaf margin, leaf character, leaf venation, and leaves aroma exhibited a distant relationship between the clove accessions obtained from tuni and hutan. These accessions showed a high dissimilarity between the red and the white Zanzibar. The RAPD profile showed 92 bands ranging from 800 to 2700 bp, with a polymorphism of 66.3%. Based on genetic distance analysis, red Zanzibar and hutan have the highest value (0.58%), while red Zanzibar and white Zanzibar have the lowest (0.16%). These results were consistent with phylogenetic tree reconstruction and PCoA analysis that groups hutan at a long distance from red Zanzibar and tuni. According to morphological and molecular analysis, clove accessions tuni, red Zanzibar, and hutan were most suitable as promising parental genotypes for further improvement through plant breeding and conservation programs.

Keywords: Clove, genetic makeup, morphological trait, polymorphism, genetic distance, RAPD markers

Key findings: Clove (S. aromaticum L.) showed variations in vegetative characters and a moderate polymorphism based on seven RAPD primers. The markers classified tuni and red Zanzibar clove accessions into the same group, while the hutan clove accession remained distinct. The results suggested that these three accessions have the potential to serve as parental genotypes in crossbreeding for further improvement in clove plant quality.