CHANGES IN THE QUANTITATIVE FEATURES оF GARDEN ROSE LEAVES FROM VARIOUS FUNCTIONAL GROUPS

The paper presents a statistical analysis of leaf morphological features for 20 garden rose cultivars from various functional groups (bushy, large-flowered, multi-flowered, groundcover and climbing). In order to develop a more advanced method for a comprehensive assessment of ornamental nature in garden and park roses growing in the humid subtropics of Russia it is necessary to carefully study the complex of quantitative features of assimilation apparatus and identify the most important ones that are approved for cultivars. Thus, in order to develop a classification it is possible to use the roundness index (apical and lateral leaves, variation coefficient of 18.2 % and 17.0 %, respectively) and the thickness of a leaf blade (V = 21.4 %) from among the quantitative features.