Prospects of using and breeding perennial geraniums in Russia

Abstract

In recent years, interest has been growing in winter-hardy geraniums as ornamental, essential oil bearing, medicinal and bee plants, thereby intensifying their breeding. Due to their introduction into commercial fl oriculture, winter-hardy varieties of Geranium L. enter the markets of countries in diff erent climatic zones, and every year they are more and more widely used in fl oral design of gardens, parks and street areas, which expands their raw material base. Th e paper considers the issues and prospects of using and breeding perennial winter-hardy geraniums in Russia on the basis of global achievements. Th e diversity of species and varieties of this genus in terms of leaf and fl ower coloring, habitus, fl owering time, adaptation to diff erent soil and climatic conditions expands the ways of their use as ornamental and environmentally-friendly plants. Th e paper demonstrates the prospects of using many geranium species and varieties in medicine and functional nutrition due to the high content of polyphenols in extracts of above-ground and underground parts, as well as the prominent antioxidant, antimicrobial and anti-cancer eff ect. Creation of representative fi eld collections of geraniums by ecological and geographical origin and economic and biological characteristics, as well as development of nursery breeding will contribute to the selection of geraniums in Russia for various uses. Th e possibilities of creating interspecifi c hybrids by spontaneous and artifi cial crosses on the basis of fi eld collections of winter-hardy geraniums have not been exhausted yet due to suffi ciently high interspecifi c compatibility of a number of species and varieties, especially among species and varieties of Geranium subgenus. Th is is confi rmed by the data on origin of the created varieties and some studies of genomes of geranium species and varieties. Further focus areas of breeding will be formed not only taking into account the demands of gardeners, but also specialists in the fi eld of biochemistry, medicine and other branches of national economy, where geraniums are and will be used.