Dryas punctata Juz. Taxon description

Dryad

Plants of this genus of the family Rosaceae They are low creeping shrubs. A thick, lignified branched stem, slowly growing, takes root at the point of contact with the soil, ensuring the gradual conquest of the territory. Numerous densely intertwined roots and a dense above-ground part leave no chance for competitors in the fight for water, nutrients and the sun. The leaves of dryads are petiolate, simple, evergreen, leathery, wrinkled-wavy, round-toothed along the edge. The bright green of the upper side of the leaf blade contrasts with the silver-gray pubescence of the lower side. Large, single white or light yellow flowers, characteristic of Rosaceae, stand out clearly against this variegated background, and round fluffy balls up to 3 cm in diameter, formed as the seeds ripen, look especially attractive.

In rock gardens you can most often find Drummond's dryad (Dryas drummondii) 15-20 cm high, native to North America, blooming in spring large single white or yellow flowers. Eight-petalled dryad (Dryas octopetala)– Eurasian species – found in nature in the alpine and subalpine mountain belts and in the tundra zone, rarely grows above 10 cm. It blooms in summer with large white flowers with a yellow center. After flowering, large fluffy balls are formed. Point dryad (Dryas punctata)- a plant of the alpine and arctic zones of Europe, Asia and North America. It grows as a spreading bush 5-10 cm high, blooms in summer with large, about 3 cm in diameter, white single flowers.

All dryads are quite unpretentious and easy to maintain; almost any soil suits them, but they grow best in dry, well-drained alkaline, not too nutritious soils. They do not tolerate excess humidity and can easily tolerate prolonged drought. Characterized by good winter hardiness. They propagate by dividing the bush, cuttings and freshly ripened seeds, which quickly lose their viability during storage. In a rock garden they can be placed on a slope of any exposure, in the open sunny place or in partial shade.

Dryad (Dryas ) - is rightfully considered one of the most beautiful high-mountain woody plants. In addition to rock screes, cliffs, hills and alpine vegetation in Europe, it is also found in Arctic regions. It is given a special decorative appearance by small alternate leathery petiolate leaves 2-3 cm long, covering creeping branches. The upper side of the leaves is dark green, without pubescence, the lower side is covered with gray fibers, the edges are regularly serrated.

The genus consists of two or three evergreen, creeping species, decorative both during the flowering and fruiting periods:

Location and soil . Sunny or shaded place. Does not tolerate waterlogging, so the best places for planting are terraces of dry masonry walls or specially drained holes on rocky hills. No dryads are suitable for an alpine house, as they do not grow well under glass and do not bloom often, if at all, in such conditions.

It is easy to grow even on an acidic substrate, although in nature it prefers to grow on an alkaline one. The ideal location is a well-drained, gravelly site in full sun, but dryads will also grow well on a bed of sand.

Care. In a snowless winter it can suffer from severe frost, and although it usually regenerates in the spring, it is better to cover the plant for the winter. Overwintering leaves can be severely burned by the spring sun.

Reproduceseasy to divide, as well as seeds immediately after ripening. Cuttings are not well received. Before sowing, the seeds must be carefully examined, as they often do not have an embryo and are useless. Dryad seeds do not last long. They must be sown outdoors as soon as they ripen. Spring germination requires freezing of the crops and subsequent cold stratification for 2-3 months. Germination occurs at 18-22 degrees in the light. Seedlings are unpretentious and develop quickly. If you have problems (stunted growth, death of seedlings), you need to ensure good air circulation, if possible move the crops outside, and the problem will be solved.

If you are collecting your own seeds, take your time. Leave them on the plant as long as possible to produce more full-fledged seeds. Under favorable conditions, dryads self-sow. Flowering occurs 2-3 years after sowing.

Usage. Magnificent and irreplaceable plants for collection rockeries.

Eight-petalled dryad - Dryas octopetala L. The homeland of the plant is Europe, the Urals, Siberia. It grows in the Arctic region and the alpine zone on gravelly, moss and lichen tundras, and occasionally enters the forest zone, where it lives on limestone outcrops. In Arctic tundras it often dominates.Flowers with many stamens, large, showy, up to 4 cm in diameter, grow singly on a peduncle 5 - 10 cm high. The petals are white, 6 - 9 in number. The leaves are evergreen. It blooms in July - August, its fruit is also very decorative. Ripe testes turn into achenes with a long fluffy appendage, and the achene looks like a “fluffy ball”, similar to the fruit of a lumbago. Height 10 cm, bush grows up to 60 cm in diameter.

Sundermann's Dryad - Dryas x suendermannii Kellerer. A hybrid between two species: the eight-petalled dryad and the Drummond dryad. More like the last parent, but with yellowish buds that turn creamy yellow when opening. This attractive hybrid is easy to grow. Blooms from May to August. Covers groups of stones and spaces between them well. The plant will not be harmed if stepped on and is well suited for edging paths. It belongs to very valuable forms of wild perennial.

Dryas drummondii Richardson ex Hook. A North American arctic species, it grows above treeline, on rocky mountain ridges, scree, and occasionally at lower elevations along mountain streams in Alaska, Washington, northeastern Oregon, and Montana. Hard, dense, creeping shoots form a ground cover clump 50 cm in diameter. The leaves are wintering, leathery, oval, with a crenate edge. Glossy on the outside, silver-felt on the inside. Blooms in late spring. Stems 5 - 20 cm tall. The flowers are solitary, pale or bright yellow, goblet-shaped, up to 2.5 cm in diameter. As a rule, only individual flowers open fully. Repeat flowering is possible in summer and autumn. After flowering, it forms feathery, fluffy catkins.

Point dryad - Dryas punctata Juz. Grows in Europe, the Urals, Northern Mongolia and Kamchatka, in North America(Yukon State). In the Arctic zone, in the alpine and upper parts of the forest belt, in the tundra, dry woodlands, on rocky slopes.

The leaf blades are oblong, narrowly notched or blunt at the base, wrinkled above, glabrous, glossy or sparsely pubescent, grayish-tomentose below, with brown branched hairs and crenate-toothed along the edge. Petioles are equal to or shorter than the blades, white-haired, with an admixture of brown branched hairs. Flower arrows are fine-white tomentose, with scattered dark red, glandular hairs. The flowers are about 3 cm in diameter. Sepals are linear-lanceolate, white-haired, with an admixture of long black-brown glandular hairs.

Dryas tschonoskii Juz. Original low growing plant with beautifully dissected leaves, white-tomentose below, and white, bright, rather large flowers.

Habitat of the East Asian continental-island type: found on Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, Japan and the northern part of the Korean Peninsula.

An evergreen, densely branched shrub with creeping stems and dark green, short-elliptical, incised, crenate-toothed leaves. Peduncles 2 - 5 cm tall, densely white-tomentose. Flowers are solitary, up to 2 cm in diameter. Fruits with feathery long columns. Blooms in July.

When sown before winter, seedlings appear at the end of June. Plant - interesting solution for rocky gardens.

The earth is bored without plants; without them it simply cannot exist. Plants are found even in seemingly lifeless sandy deserts. And representatives of the mountain flora feel comfortable among the bare ones with the bare minimum of the poorest soil. Some plants prefer to cling to almost vertical cliffs above the abyss. A holy place is never empty!

What can we say about our garden soil - loose, nutritious, regularly watered. A true paradise for plants! Such well-groomed soil cannot remain unclaimed under any circumstances. One has only to cultivate the bed - and the ubiquitous seedlings appear in it almost immediately. Sometimes these are germinating unpicked pieces of roots, and sometimes seeds brought by the wind sprout together. Any piece pure land in the garden it is a magnet for weeds.

In this situation, it seems quite natural for the gardener to want to protect the land from uninvited guests, making it available to perennial beautiful ground cover plants. They are entrusted with the task of protecting the soil from seeds, from erosion by rain, from burning by the sun and drying out by winds.
The aesthetic component is no less important - planting such plants should look attractive for as long a period of time as possible.

Popular types of dryads for garden decoration

Dryad(Dryas) - attractive, rarely found in our gardens ground cover plant of the Rosaceae family, forming a thick, low carpet.
Dryads are low creeping shrubs. The thick, lignified branched stem of dryads, slowly growing, takes root at the point of contact with the soil, ensuring the gradual conquest of the surrounding territory.

Numerous, densely intertwined roots and a dense above-ground part of the dryad leave no chance for competitors in the fight for water, nutrients and sun. The leaves of dryads are petiolate, simple, evergreen, leathery, wrinkled-wavy, round-toothed along the edge. The bright green of the upper side of the leaf blade contrasts beautifully with the silver-gray pubescence of the underside of the leaf.

Large, characteristic of Rosaceae, single flowers of dryads, white or light yellow, stand out clearly against the background of the leaves. And the round fluffy balls (up to 3 cm in diameter) that form as the seeds ripen look very attractive.

In rock gardens you can most often find dryad Drummond(Dryas drummondii) 15-20 cm high, native to North America, blooming in spring with large single white or yellow flowers.

Eight-petalled dryad(Dryas octopetala) is a Eurasian species that naturally occurs in the alpine and subalpine mountain belt and in the tundra zone. This dryad rarely grows above 10 cm and blooms with large white flowers in summer.

Dryad point(Dryas punctata) is found in the alpine and arctic zones of Europe, Asia and North America. It grows as a spreading bush 5-10 cm high. It blooms in summer with large (about 3 cm in diameter) white single flowers.

Caucasian dryad(Dryas caucasica) reaches a height of 5-15 cm, has oblong-elliptical leaves and white flowers. It blooms in June, the diameter of the corolla is about 2-3.5 cm. It prefers a sunny place with humus soil mixed with gravel.

In the photo: a blooming carpet of the Caucasian dryad and ripening seeds with fluffy shoots

Dryad propagation and cultivation in rock gardens

Dryads easily reproduce by dividing the bush, but rooting of cuttings occurs with difficulty. and freshly ripened seeds.
When stored, dryad seeds quickly lose their viability, so it is advisable to sow them in open ground immediately after collection.

All types of dryads are quite unpretentious and easy to keep.
These hardy plants are suitable for almost any garden soil. But dryads grow best in dry, well-drained, alkaline, not too nutritious soils. Dryads cannot tolerate excessive soil moisture, easily tolerate prolonged drought, and have good winter hardiness (but in a snowless winter they can suffer from severe frosts).

In rock gardens, dryads are usually placed on slopes, in an open sunny place or in partial shade.

Oleg Borisovich Serebryakov (Moscow region)
http://www.rusbotanik.ru

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Description: The genus consists of evergreen, creeping species, decorative both during the flowering and fruiting periods. Several species are found in alpine regions of the northern hemisphere. In Russia there are 11 species, most of them grow in Siberia (7), followed by Far East(3). There is one species on Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands.

Dryads are rightfully considered one of the most beautiful alpine woody plants. In addition to rock screes, cliffs, hills and alpine vegetation levels in Europe, they are also found in Arctic regions. They are given a special decorative appearance by small alternate leathery petiolate leaves 2-3 cm long, covering creeping branches. The upper side of the leaves is dark green, without pubescence, the lower side is covered with gray fibers, the edges are regularly serrated.

Botanists still cannot come to a consensus regarding the number of species in the genus:

Drummond's Dryad- Dryas drummondii Richardson ex Hook. A North American arctic species, it grows above treeline, on rocky mountain ridges, scree, and occasionally at lower elevations along mountain streams in Alaska, Washington, northeastern Oregon, and Montana. Hard, dense, creeping shoots form a ground cover 50 cm in diameter. The leaves are wintering, leathery, oval, with a crenate edge. The leaves are glossy on the outside and silvery-felt on the inside. Blooms in late spring. Stems are 5-20 cm tall. The flowers are solitary, pale or bright yellow, goblet-shaped, up to 2.5 cm in diameter. As a rule, only individual flowers open fully. Repeat flowering is possible in summer and autumn. After flowering, it forms feathery, fluffy catkins. Drummand dryad has two varieties var. eglandulosa And var. tomentosa. In some descriptions it occurs Dryas drummondii "Grandiflora", but either Dryas octopetala "Grandiflora" or the form D. x suendermannii appears under this name. Photo source: http://caliban.mpiz-koeln.mpg.de/~stueber/mavica/part1/00534.html

Dryad of Sundermann - Dryas xsuendermannii Kellerer Hybrid between D. drummondii and D. octopetala. Similar to the last parent, but with yellowish buds that open to a creamy yellow. This attractive hybrid is easy to grow. Covers groups of stones and spaces between them well. The plant does not suffer if you step on it, and is well suited for edging paths. Photo on the left of Yuri Markovsky Photo on the right M.Barbuhatti

Dryad point-Dryas punctata Juz. Europe, Urals, North. Mongolia, Kamchatka, North. America (Yukon). In the Arctic zone, in the alpine and upper forest belts, in the tundra, dry woodlands, on rocky slopes. Abundant on limestones. The leaf blades are oblong, narrowly notched or blunt at the base, wrinkled above, glabrous, glossy or scattered, rarely quite densely, pubescent, covered with sessile lens-shaped glands, grayish-tomentose below, with brown branched hairs and short-stalked glands along the midrib not covered with felt, along the edge crenate-dentate. Petioles are equal to or shorter than the blades, white-haired, with an admixture of brown branched hairs. The flower arrows are thin-white tomentose, with scattered dark red ones. glandular hairs. Flowers approx. 3 cm dia. Sepals are linear-lanceolate, white-haired, with an admixture of long black-brown glandular hairs. Photo by Vyacheslav Petukhin from the site "Nature of Baikal"

Location: sunny or shaded. It does not tolerate waterlogging, so the best places for planting are terraces of dry masonry walls or specially drained holes on rocky hills. No dryads are suitable for an alpine house, as they do not grow well under glass and do not bloom often, if at all, in such conditions.

Dryas oxyodont Juz. = Dryas octopetala ssp. oxyodont L.
Photo by Yuri Ovchinnikov

Soil: It is easy to grow even on an acidic substrate, although in nature it prefers to grow on an alkaline one. The ideal location is a well-drained, gravelly site in full sun, but dryads will also grow well on a bed of sand.

Care: in a snowless winter it can suffer from severe frost, and although it usually regenerates in the spring, it is better to cover the plant for the winter. Overwintering leaves can be severely burned by the spring sun.

Reproduction: easy to divide, as well as seeds immediately after ripening. Cuttings are not well received.

Before sowing, the seeds must be carefully examined, as they often do not have an embryo and are useless. Dryad seeds do not last long. They must be sown outdoors as soon as they ripen. Spring germination requires freezing of the crops and subsequent cold stratification for 2-3 months. Germination occurs at 18-22 degrees in the light. Seedlings are unpretentious and develop quickly. If you have problems (stunted growth, death of seedlings), you need to ensure good air circulation, if possible move the crops outside, and the problem will be solved.

If you are collecting your own seeds, take your time. Leave them on the plant as long as possible to produce more full-fledged seeds. IN favorable conditions dryads self-sow. Flowering occurs 2-3 years after sowing.

Usage: magnificent and irreplaceable plants for collection rockeries.