SOME ASPECTS REGARDING THE CULTIVATION OF SPECIES WITH DECORATIVE VALUE ACONITUM DEGENII Gáyer

Abstract

Ex situ conservation is the most important way through a Botanic Garden contributes to biodiversity conservation. One of the multiple directions of ex situ conservation is the diversification of the collections with spontaneous cormophytes presenting decorative value. Aconitum degenii Gáyer is an herbaceous, perennial and toxic species with the areal in Alps and Carpathian Mountains, sporadically met at forest’s margins. This species has been studied in 2009-2011 period in order to observe its behavior in the environmental conditions characteristic to the Botanic Garden of Iasi. To accomplish this aim seeds, rhizomes and individuals have been collected from the wild and introduced in experimental fields. Comparisons between flowering periods, qualitative (color of the flowers) and quantitative (number of the flowers, leaves and ramifications, plants height, rhizomes length) decorative characters of both cultivated and spontaneous individuals have been realized. It was observed that Aconitum degenii Gáyer individuals are keeping (almost the same quantitative characteristics) and even improve (longer flowering period) their decorative characteristics without being deteriorated or diminished. From the morpho – anatomical perspective none significant differences have been observed.

Keywords

• decorative species
• conventional cultivation