Sumac (Rhus coriaria L.) a small tree or large shrub, has been used in the Middle East and Iranian traditional medicine to treat various ailments such as diarrhea, dysentery, hemorrhoids, and gout and also frequently used for wound healing and reduction of blood sugar, cholesterol and uric acid levels for centuries. The present study was carried out to study the morphological variations of 136 accessions of sumac (R. coriaria L.). The results showed that the studied accessions had significant differences for most of the traits, which is due to diversity in the measured traits. Leaf length varied from 54.68 to 131.71 mm, while leaf width ranged from 32.32 to 77.19 mm. Bunch length varied from 54.71 to 142.42mm and also, bunch width ranged from 13.65 to 35.55 mm, while the range of bunch weight was between 0.55 and 6.67 g with an average of 2.26 g. The weight of 10 fruits ranged between 0.06 and 0.21 g with an average of 0.14, while the weight of 100 seeds was from 0.50 to 0.81 g. Correlation coefficients analysis indicated positive correlations between most of the measured traits. The principal component analysis could describe the evaluated traits as seven main and independent components which were able to justify 73.12% of total variance. The studied populations were placed into three groups which the PayineSad population was placed in the first group and characterized by high values in bunch length, bunch weight, and fruit density in bunch, while Somaghloo population formed the second group and characterized by high value in shrub height and fruit yield. In addition, the populations including PoshteSad, Astaneh, and Fizyaneh were placed in the third group and characterized by high values in fruit length, fruit width, fruit weight, seed length and seed weight. While most of the accessions studied showed high potential, 20 accessions were superior in terms of the fruit characters and are valuable gene pools for breeding programs. Such variations in phenotypic traits
