EXPERIENCE IN THE INTRODUCTION OF ORNAMENTAL HERBACEOUS PLANTS WITH COLOURED LEAVES

The paper presents a comparative analysis of the quantitative and qualitative composition of the ornamental deciduous herbaceous introduced species (272 names) sampled from the collection fund belonging to the Laboratory of Ornamental Plants (N.V. Tsitsin Main Botanical Garden of the Russian Academy of Sciences, MBG of RAS). The objects of the study were samples, which included 272 names, including 18 species and varieties, as well as 254 cultivars. It is shown that the largest number of genera containing species, which include forms and cultivars with coloured leaves, belong to the following four families: Poaceae Juss., Asteraceae Giseke, Laminaceae Martinov and Saxifragaceae Juss. Seven genera have been identified (Hosta Tratt. × Heucherella H.R. Wehrh., Sempervivum L., Dahlia Cav., Sedum Adans., Heuchera L., Tulipa L.), which are characterized by the greatest variety of forms and cultivars with decoratively coloured leaves. The analysis of long-term field experiments allowed us to assume a multidirectional influence of adaptive characteristics on the crop’s resistance in the conditions of Central Russia for different groups of introduced ornamental deciduous plants. Visual comparison of growth and development characteristics of golden forms and forms that have anthocyanin coloration of the leaf blade with their ancestral species in ornamental deciduous samples has revealed no decrease in adaptive characteristics. Concerning variegate forms that are most widely represented in the modern collection fund of the Laboratory of Ornamental Plants (MBG of RAS), we have revealed differences in crop’s resistance depending on the ratio between the differently coloured parts of the leaf blade.