Herbaceous plants with variegated leaf color, perspective for urban landscaping

Abstract

The article presents the results of a comparative analysis of the quantitative and qualitative composition of a sample of variegate herbaceous species and cultivars (36 names) from the collection fund of the Laboratory of Ornamental Plants, Tsitsin Main Botanical Garden, Russian Academy of Sciences. In the Poaceae Barnhart, Asteraceae Giseke, Lamiaceae Martinov and Saxifragaceae Juss. families have been found the largest number of genera containing species, which include forms with this leaf color. The analysis of data from long-term field experiments allowed us to assume the presence of a multidirectional influence of adaptive characteristics on the stability in the culture of different groups of introduced plants with variegate leaf color. Variegate plants are the most widely represented in the modern collection fund of the Laboratory of Ornamental Plants. For them, differences in stability in culture were revealed depending on the ratio of the differently colored parts of the leaf blade. Variegate plants have been studied according to their belonging to ecological groups, donor regions, life forms and the systematic status of natural ancestral species.