Abstract: In the cross breeding of Hedychium, parental selection is related not only to the parental morphologic characters, but also to the reproducing barrier of self incompatibility. In this study, the phylogenetic relationships of 28 materials were analyzed. The results showed that parents with a similarity coefficient of 04-06 tended to have a high setting percentage after combined the relathionshipe with the setting percentages. The methods of parental selection in actual breeding work were suggested based on the present results. The characteristics, such as bract arrangements, fragrance and color, were the most important factors to be considered for cross breeding of Hedychium. When the parents selected were either too distant or too close, bridge parental taxon were necessary for gathering better characteristics.

Key words: Parental selection