Dryad plant. Dryad is a plant for rocky places. Requirements and care

Delicate touching flowers with wide open wreaths amaze the world, spreading a dense emerald carpet along the slopes of rocky ledges, high mountain plateaus, coexisting peacefully with stone equanimity harsh nature mountains Fluffy lumps in place of a faded wreath move in the wind, like hatched silly chicks.
In Greek mythology, dryads were called forest nymphs - patronesses and protectors. different types trees. The dryads of Melia, born from the scarlet drops of the blood of Uranus, guarded the ash tree. The dryads of Zeus guarded the oak, lived and died with it. The name of the forest nymphs comes from Greek word"dryus" - oak.
Carl Linnaeus gave this name to the plant because of the similarity of its leaves with oak. Rosaceous flowers consist mainly of 5, less often 4 petals, but the dryad has 8 of them, hence the species name - eight-petal.
In the Alps and the Urals, the dryad, a relic of the Pleistocene period, grows on limestone rocks. On the territory of Ukraine, it occurs in two local areas in the highlands of the Carpathians at an altitude of almost 2,000 m above sea level on the northeastern slope of the mountain Bliznitsy of the Svydovetsky ridge and on Mount Pop-Ivan Chernogorsky.
plant description
Dryad - a real long-liver, some individuals live up to 100 years. The stem is plagiotropic (creeping along the ground), additionally rooting at the nodes. The leaves are elongated or ovate, heart-shaped or slightly notched at the base, cut-toothed. Flowers about 3.5 cm in circumference, eight, sometimes nine-petalled. Peduncles from 1.5 to 10 cm long, covered with dense villi and black-purple glands.
Large white dryad flowers throughout daylight hours turning towards the sun. Their wreaths, like parabolic mirrors, focus the sun's rays on the cluster of queens and stamens. Thanks to this arrangement of the flower, the temperature inside the wreath is 8 degrees higher than the surrounding air. small insects very cozy near such a "heating", and all the seed germs of the plant are fertilized even late autumn during significant cold spells. From strong wind the dryad hides under the protection of tall plants, creeping squatly along the ground.
Dryad breeding
Dryad seeds have a good germination rate - over 25%, germinate especially well in moist soil covered with moss. In the first year, seedlings grow very slowly, at this time lateral roots develop, and the main orthotropic root reaches only 1.5 - 2 cm. In the second year, the plants already bloom and bear fruit, forming, basically, only one flower. Before flowering, the dryad forms a central stem, but with the appearance of lateral flower-bearing pagons, it begins to branch radially, settling on the soil with a rounded squat cushion. In the third year of life, the circumference of such a pillow is approximately 35-40 cm, in the fourth year - over 50 cm.
Dryad use
The plant is suitable for the formation of flower mats. It has long been grown in the rock gardens of the botanical gardens of Western Europe.
AT landscape design used to create rock slides, irreplaceable in collection rockeries. Adjacent to perennials in borders and flower beds, subject to a spacious arrangement.

Cultural varieties of the eight-petalled dryad
subsp. alaskensis- cultivated in Alaska, it is distinguished by leaves that have the shape of elongated elongated ovals with deep teeth. Dark glands are located on the median vein on the underside.
Var. argentea- also comes from Alaska, but is quite popular in Europe, has become widespread. The leaves on both sides are strewn with small fluffy villi.
Var. Argentea Minor- compact, graceful plant, pleases with flowering from spring to late autumn.
Grandiflora- a cultivar with beautiful expressive flowers over 5 cm in circumference, flowering continues throughout the season.
D. ostopetala var. tenella- a slow-growing subspecies, which experts often choose for growing in mini-rock gardens. Sometimes stands out in an independent form.
The eight-petalled dryad needs full protection. At present, its Montenegrin population is increasing on the territory of our state in

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

Dryads are rightfully considered one of the most charming highland woody plants. In addition to rock screes, cliffs, hills and alpine vegetation in Europe, they are also found in the Arctic regions. Small regular leathery petiolate leaves 2-3 cm long, covering creeping twigs, give them a special decorative effect. The upper side of the leaves is dark green, without pubescence, the lower side is covered with gray villi, the edges are regularly serrated.

Regarding the number of species in the genus, botanists still cannot come to a consensus:

Dryad Drummond- Dryas drummondii Richardson ex Hook. A North American arctic species that grows above the forest line, on rocky ridges, screes, and sometimes lower elevations along mountain streams in Alaska, Washington, northeastern Oregon, and Montana. Rigid, dense, creeping shoots form a ground cover curtain 50 cm in diameter. The leaves are wintering, leathery, oval, with a crenate edge. FROM outer side the leaves are glossy, with the inside - silver-felt. Blooms in late spring. Stems 5-20 cm tall. Flowers solitary, pale or bright yellow, cup-shaped, up to 2.5 cm in diameter. As a rule, only individual flowers open fully. May re-bloom in summer and fall. After flowering forms feathery, fluffy earrings. The dryad drummand has two varieties var. eglandulosa and var. tomentosa. In some descriptions there is 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 Zunderman - Dryas x suendermannii Kellerer A hybrid between D. drummondii and D. octopetala. Look like last parent, but with yellowish buds that open up to creamy yellow. This attractive hybrid is easy to grow. Well closes groups of stones and gaps between them. The plant does not suffer if you step on it, and is well suited for framing paths. Photo on the left of Yuri Markovsky photo right M.Barbuhatti

Dryad point-Dryas punctata Juz. Europe, Ural, North. Mongolia, Kamchatka, Sev. America (Yukon). In the arctic zone, in the alpine and upper forest belts, in the tundra, dry woodlands, on rocky slopes. Abundant on limestones. Leaf blades are oblong, narrowly notched or obtuse at the base, wrinkled above, glabrous, glossy or scattered, rarely quite densely, pubescent, covered with sessile lenticular glands, grayish-felt below, with brown branched hairs and short-stalked glands along the midrib not covered with felt, along the edge town-toothed. Petioles are equal to or shorter than plates, white-haired, with an admixture of brown branched hairs. Floral arrows are thin-white felt, with scattered dark red. glandular hairs. Flowers ok. 3 cm dia. Sepals linear-lanceolate, white-hairy, with an admixture of long black-brown glandular hairs. Photo by Vyacheslav Petukhin from the site "Nature of Baikal"

Location: sunny or shaded. Does not tolerate waterlogging, therefore 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 home, as they do not grow well under glass and bloom in such conditions infrequently, if at all.

Dryas oxyodonta Juz. = Dryas octopetala ssp. oxyodonta L.
Photo Ovchinnikov Yury

The soil: grows easily even on an acidic substrate, although in nature it prefers to grow on an alkaline one. The ideal location is a well-drained, gravel site in full sun, but dryads will also grow well on a sand bed.

Care: snowless winter can suffer from hard frost, and although it usually regenerates in the spring, it is better to cover the plant for the winter. Overwintering leaves can burn badly from the spring sun.

Reproduction: easy division, as well as seeds immediately after ripening. The cuttings are not accepted well.

Before sowing, the seeds must be carefully examined, as they often do not have a germ and are useless. Dryad seeds are not durable. They must be sown outdoors as soon as they are ripe. For spring germination, freezing of crops and subsequent cold stratification within 2-3 months are required. Germination occurs at 18-22 degrees in the light. Seedlings are unpretentious and develop quickly. If you have problems (stunting, death of seedlings), you need to provide good air circulation, if possible, move the crops to the street, and the problem will be solved.

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

Usage: gorgeous and irreplaceable plants for collection rockeries.

Dryas punctata Juz. 1929, Izv. Ch. nerd. Garden of the RSFSR, 26, 3–4: 320. - D. kamtschatica Juz. 1929, op. op. : 323. - D. alaskensis Pors. 1947 Canada. Field nature. 61, 6: 187. - Spot dryad.

Shrub with branched outstretched woody stems. Leaves 0.4–3 cm long, 0.2–1.3 cm wide, elliptic or oblong-elliptic, with the greatest width in the middle, narrowly heart-shaped or rounded at the base, obtuse at the apex, green above, with more or less abundant depressed dotted glandules, glabrous or pubescent , white tomentose below, along the veins and petioles with abundant long brown branched hairs or stalked glandules (or both together), roughly incised-toothed along the edge. Flowers 1–8 cm long during flowering, 4–11 cm long when fruiting. Flowers 12–30 mm in diameter, widely open; lep. white. Nuts 3–4 mm long; columns pinnately pubescent, with fruiting up to 3 cm long 2n = 18 (Zhukova, 1965).

Chuk., An., An.-Penzh., Kor., Kol., Okhot., Ald., Kamch. - Shrub tundra, rocks, rocky slopes and talus. VI-VIII. - Common. Distribution: Eur.h., Zap. and Vost. Sib.; Scand., Mong., Sev. Am. - Described from Vost. Siberia.

Note. One of the most variable Dryas species. D. punctata subsp. alaskensis (Pors.) Jurtz. characterized by the absence of veins with lower. side l. reservoir and on the petioles brown long branched hairs and the presence of stalked glands. It grows in the southeast of the Chukchi Peninsula and in the North. America (Alaska, Yukon). Throughout the territory of the Russian Far East, a typical subspecies is distributed, in which branched brown hairs are well developed on the veins of the lower. side l. reservoir and in black, but stalked glands are absent. Plants intermediate between these subspecies (they have both stalked glandular glands and brown branched hairs developed in pubescence) are quite common on Wrangel Island, sowing. coast Sea of ​​Okhotsk and peninsula Kamchatka. D. kamtschatica was described from Kamchatka (Koryakskaya Sopka) and is a fairly common form throughout its range with slightly shorter leaves than the type specimen D. punctata. In Kamchatka, a form is often found with a very small number of dotted glands (and sometimes without them at all) on the upper. side leaf blades, described as D. octopetala var. viscidula Hult. and considered by Yu. P. Kozhevnikov as a subspecies. With complete loss of punctate glands, this form is practically indistinguishable from D. ajanensis Juz. and is possibly the product of past absorption by local populations of D. punctata. Quite common in the north of the RFE is a form with densely pubescent tops. sides of leaf blades, described as var. cinerea jurtz. (D. henricae auct., non Juz.).

In translation from ancient Greek, the word "dryad" means a tree, specifically the oak was called so. Of course, a small creeping dryad shrub as a plant cannot be compared with a mighty oak. But Carl Linnaeus named it so for some similarity in the shape of the leaves. The Dryad belongs to the Rosaceae family. In the genus, a different number of species are called, ranging from six. All of them grow in the northern hemisphere in areas with an arctic climate, including here in Russia, or in the mountains at altitudes of alpine meadows.

I will describe some, in my opinion, the most famous species.

Dryad eight-petalled (Dryas octopetala) grows in the northern regions of Europe and Asia, mainly in the tundra, as well as in mountainous regions. This creeping bush about 10 cm high forms a rug up to 60 cm in diameter. It is because of its leaf shape that the genus is called dryad. Leaves up to 3 cm long, narrowed in the petiole and wider at the end, leathery. The upper side is smooth, dark green. The underside has pubescence in the form of villi. On the shoots are arranged alternately. Flowering in July - August. Single white flowers grow on peduncles up to 10 cm high. The flowers are large for such small plant, about 4 cm in diameter, with many yellow stamens in the center. Interesting fruits with a fluffy crest. There are several varieties, for example, Grandiflora with flowers up to 5 cm.

Dryad Drummond (Dryas drummondii) grows in the Arctic highlands of North America. A creeping shrub about the same size as the previous species. The leaves are smooth from above and with felt pubescence from below. This is how they winter. The flowers are half that of the eight-petalled, yellow with varying color intensity. Flowering in May. There is a re-bloom.

Dryad Zunderman (Dryas x suendermannii) is a hybrid of the two species described above. Cream colored flowers.

Plant loves sunny places, or lightly shaded with any soil, but always well-drained. A sandy or fine gravel pad is best suited. Watering is needed moderate, dryad does not tolerate stagnant water. Does not need supplements. Usually not susceptible to disease. Despite the fact that the dryad is a northern plant, even an arctic one, it is better to cover it slightly with brushwood for the winter. Yes and spring sun burns the leaves of evergreen species.

The dryad propagates by dividing the bush and seeds, cuttings are worse. It is necessary to divide the plant in the spring. Seeds should be used only freshly harvested and it is best to sow before winter. Then you don't have to deal with lengthy stratification. In the first year, the seedlings are only gaining strength and growing. They bloom in the second or third year.

How ornamental plant dryad is best suited for alpine slides and rockeries. She can decorate the terraces of masonry retaining walls. Dryad Zunderman is not afraid of trampling (within reasonable limits), so it can be planted along the paths.

Good neighbors for a dryad can be

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

Dryads are rightly considered one of the most beautiful alpine woody plants. In addition to rock screes, cliffs, hills and alpine vegetation in Europe, they are also found in the Arctic regions. Small regular leathery petiolate leaves 2-3 cm long, covering creeping twigs, give them a special decorative effect. The upper side of the leaves is dark green, without pubescence, the lower side is covered with gray villi, the edges are regularly serrated.

Regarding the number of species in the genus, botanists still cannot come to a consensus:

Dryad Drummond- Dryas drummondii Richardson ex Hook. A North American arctic species that grows above the forest line, on rocky ridges, screes, and sometimes lower elevations along mountain streams in Alaska, Washington, northeastern Oregon, and Montana. Rigid, dense, creeping shoots form a ground cover curtain 50 cm in diameter. The leaves are wintering, leathery, oval, with a crenate edge. From the outside, the leaves are glossy, from the inside - silver-felt. Blooms in late spring. Stems 5-20 cm tall. Flowers solitary, pale or bright yellow, cup-shaped, up to 2.5 cm in diameter. As a rule, only individual flowers open fully. May re-bloom in summer and fall. After flowering forms feathery, fluffy earrings. The dryad drummand has two varieties var. eglandulosa and var. tomentosa. In some descriptions there is 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 Zunderman - Dryas x suendermannii Kellerer A hybrid between D. drummondii and D. octopetala. Similar to the last parent, but with yellowish buds that open to creamy yellow. This attractive hybrid is easy to grow. Well closes groups of stones and gaps between them. The plant does not suffer if you step on it, and is well suited for framing paths. Photo on the left of Yuri Markovsky photo right M.Barbuhatti

Dryad point-Dryas punctata Juz. Europe, Ural, North. Mongolia, Kamchatka, Sev. America (Yukon). In the arctic zone, in the alpine and upper forest belts, in the tundra, dry woodlands, on rocky slopes. Abundant on limestones. Leaf blades are oblong, narrowly notched or obtuse at the base, wrinkled above, glabrous, glossy or scattered, rarely quite densely, pubescent, covered with sessile lenticular glands, grayish-felt below, with brown branched hairs and short-stalked glands along the midrib not covered with felt, along the edge town-toothed. Petioles are equal to or shorter than plates, white-haired, with an admixture of brown branched hairs. Floral arrows are thin-white felt, with scattered dark red. glandular hairs. Flowers ok. 3 cm dia. Sepals linear-lanceolate, white-hairy, 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 home, as they do not grow well under glass and bloom in such conditions infrequently, if at all.

Dryas oxyodonta Juz. = Dryas octopetala ssp. oxyodonta L.
Photo Ovchinnikov Yury

The soil: grows easily even on an acidic substrate, although in nature it prefers to grow on an alkaline one. The ideal location is a well-drained, gravel site in full sun, but dryads will also grow well on a sand bed.

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 burn badly from the spring sun.

Reproduction: easy division, as well as seeds immediately after ripening. The cuttings are not accepted well.

Before sowing, the seeds must be carefully examined, as they often do not have a germ and are useless. Dryad seeds are not durable. They must be sown outdoors as soon as they are ripe. For spring germination, freezing of crops and subsequent cold stratification within 2-3 months are required. Germination occurs at 18-22 degrees in the light. Seedlings are unpretentious and develop quickly. If you have problems (stunting, death of seedlings), you need to provide good air circulation, if possible, move the crops to the street, and the problem will be solved.

If you are collecting your own seeds, take your time. Leave them on the plant for as long as possible to get more healthy seeds. In favorable conditions, dryads give self-seeding. Flowering occurs 2-3 years after sowing.

Usage: magnificent and irreplaceable plants for collection rockeries.