Water regime of leaves of some representatives of the genus Cotinus mill. In the Southern Urals

The water regime of plants includes such vital properties as the total water content of leaves, water-holding capacity and the amount of mobile water. Determination of the parameters of these indicators helps to assess the degree of adaptation of species and varieties when grown in new regions. The aim of this work is to comparatively assess the resistance of some taxa of the genus Cotinus to drought and to select the most suitable for the needs of ornamental gardening in the conditions of the Bashkir Cis-Urals. The objects of the study were 4 taxa of Cotinus from the collection of the South Ural Botanical Garden-Institute of the Ufa Federal Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences: Cotinus coggygria, C. coggygria ‘Royal Purple’, C. obovatus and C. ×obovatus (a hybrid species). It was found that the maximum value of the total water content of leaf tissues of various taxa of the genus Cotinus is about 63 % and is recorded in two taxa – C. coggygria and the hybrid species C. ×obovatus. The highest drought resistance rates were recorded for the C. coggygria ‘Royal Purple’ variety water retention capacity of 37 % and mobile moisture content of 25 %. At the same time, this taxon has reduced winter hardiness compared to other smoke tree taxa (II points). All studied taxa of the genus Cotinus showed sufficient drought resistance in the conditions of the Southern Urals and can be recommended for ornamental gardening in the Bashkir Cis-Urals and adjacent territories.