Colophospermum mopane and its ecotypes are currently recognized on morphological and physiological characters. To add to the suite of taxonomic characters, the genetic variability of C. mopane (sensu stricto) and its ecotypes were investigated using Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA. DNA was extracted from young and mature leaves using the CTAB method. Twenty random primers were tested for their suitability and reproducibility to reveal polymorphism in C. mopane (sensu stricto) and its ecotypes. Three out of twenty primers were selected to perform RAPD analysis and a phylogenetic tree was constructed. The phylogenetic tree generated three clades with low and high parsimony bootstrap values and polytomies. The genetic results partially support the perceived morphological differences. No formal classification can be drawn from the genetic results since most of the ecotypes seemingly have not diverged genetically far from one another or from the parental material (C. mopane sensu stricto). RAPD technique has established its value as an additional tool to express the genetic variability in C. mopane (sensu stricto) and its ecotypes.

Keywords: Ecotypes, Genetics, Mopane, RAPD, sensu stricto