Assessment of the decorativeness of wood species of the family Rosaceae Juss. green zones of the Kherson region

Abstract

The article examines the decorative properties of woody plants. Woody plants provide a number of ecosystem services to urban landscapes. Most of the plants used for landscaping perform an important decorative function together with the architectural ensemble of cities. Restoration of green spaces in cities and towns of the Kherson region in the post-war period should take into account not only the ecological and biological properties of plants, but also their decorative qualities. Among the angiosperms, representatives of the family Rosaceae Juss are popular in various landscaping objects. The work presents an annotated list of plants of the family Rosaceae. A comprehensive evaluation of the decorativeness of the species of the presented family was carried out. In general, among the analyzed representatives of the family Rosaceae, the highest degree of decorativeness (65-90 points) according to the integral indicator is assigned to four species: Laurocerasus officinalis М. Roem., Malus niedzwetskyana Dieck., Prunus cerasifera Ehrh. f. pissardii Bailey та Pyracantha coccinea (L.) M. Roem. A high score of decorativeness (51-64 points) is assigned to most species of the family. Mediocre decorativeness (41-50 points) is characteristic only Cerasus incana (Pall.) Spacb. and Chaenomeles maulei (Mast.) Schneid., mainly due to the architecture of the crown, which is often low-decorative without formative pruning. With care and regular shaping haircuts, representatives of the genus Chaenomeles Lindl. are highly decorative during flowering. It is noted that all decorative qualities are changeable and dynamic, depending on the phase of plant ontogenesis. However, they are important for selecting the assortment of plants for garden and park objects.