Pistacia atlantica Desf.

Efetov, Konstantin A., Yena L., Andrey V., ., ., P., L., P., L., P., ., P. L. P. P .. C. A., ., P., P. -, ., ., -, P.,. & .,., 2024, Variegated Pistacia atlantica in the Crimea, Ecologica Montenegrina 73, pp. 404-407 : 405-407

Pistacia atlantica Desf. ‘Yuzhnoye Siyaniye’ Efetov & Yena ( fig. 1 )

The cultivar distinguishes from the morphological standard of the species with its leaves that show irregular and asymmetric variegation of yellowish and light-green stripes which oriented parallel to lateral veins, interrupting, merging, and superimposing on one another so that some parts of the leaf or the whole leaf turn chlorophyll-free. The name of the cultivar means «southern lights» (‘Yuzhnoye Siyaniye’ – transliteration of Russian ‘Южное Сияние’) and reflects the similarity of the variegation type to northern lights with considering the southern nature of P. atlantica .

Tree varieties with variegated leaves are of utmost value in ornamental dendrology. Many species have dozens and hundreds of variegated cultivars which are in great demand for landscaping.

Authors are experienced in revealing new ornamental sports of spontaneous dendroflora of the Crimea. We described a highly ornamental sport of the tree of heaven ( Ailanthus altissima (Mill.) Swingle , Simaroubaceae ) with bright creamy-white variegation of leaves as a new cultivar ‘Albina’ ( Efetov & Yena 2019), and several cultivars of Hedera helix L. ( Yena & Garmendia 2019). We have observed emergence of sports (vegetative mutations) in a number of woody taxa and consider that occurring of variegated leaves is not associated with any environmental factors and is of a spontaneous, random nature.

Having an architectonically expressive crown and shiny lacy foliage, which turns colorful (gold and red) together with its fruits (rose and blue) in autumn, P. atlantica shows superior ornamental characteristics. However, this species has never been used in the Crimea as an ornamental tree. This surprising fact can be explained with that local dendrologists traditionally aimed to introduce exotic rather than aboriginal trees for landscape architecture to make parks more ‘attractive’ on the ground of ‘usual’ wild vegetation. Nevertheless, P. atlantica deserves more attention from gardeners all the more its newly described variegated variety.

References

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Efetov, K.A. & Yena A.V. (2019) New cultivar of the tree of heaven ‘Albina’. Plant Biology and Horticulture: theory, innovation, 3 (152), 108–111 (In Russian with English abstract).

https://doi.org/10.36305/2019-3-152-108-111

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Figures

Figure 1. Close-up of variegated leaves of P. atlantica cultivar ‘Yuzhnoye Siyaniye’.