ORNAMENTAL PLANTS OF HORTICULTURE VALUE

Selection of perennials

A large genus of about 300-600 species, depending on classification. Throughout the Northern Temperate Zone and tropical mountains, 40 species in the FSU. Some are well-known as garden plants, among them S. album L., S. hybridum L., S. kamtschaticum Fisch., S. maximowiczii Regel, S. middendorfianum Maxim. and S. spurium Bieb. Some others can be taken into horticulture.

S. oppositifolium Sims

Caucasus (Transcaucasus, Dagestan, Talysh) and northern Iran. On southern slopes with gravelly soil, in dry steppe, meadows.

Plants 6-15 cm, loosely carpeting. Leaves evergreen, opposite, obovate, 1.0-2.5 cm x 0.5-1.5 cm. Leaf margin crenate. Flowers white in flat cymes. Fl - June-July. Fr - August. P - by seed and cuttings. Adapted to dry sites and full sun. Closely related to S. spurium, differs mainly in its white flowers. A very good groundcover plant. Z 4 (3).

S. selskianum Regel et Maak

Far East (Ussuriskiy Region), Japan and China. On dry slopes, in rocky places, in meadows, broadleaved forests.

Stems erect, numerous 35-45 cm. Rootstock thick, knobbly. Leaves sessile, alternate, linear-lanceolate, 3-6 cm x 0.5-1.0 cm, serrate at the apex, margin smooth at the base. Flowers yellow in crowded leafy corymbose cymes. V - evergreen, new growth May to October. Fl - June-July. Fr - September. P - by seed and by division. Well suited to the rock garden. Z 4.

S. tenellum Bieb.

Caucasus (Transcaucasus), Anatolia and Iran. On gravelly soil, on slopes, in the high alpine zone.

Plant 4-10 cm, forming a carpet. Stems very leafy. Leaves evergreen, alternate, ovate-elongated, fleshy. Flowers small, in cymose inflorescence, red or pink. Fl - June. Fr - July. P - by seed and by cuttings. Does well in sunny places and also in partially shaded sites. Well suited to the rock garden. Z 5 (4).