In this number the cactuses blossoming by winter which are grown up in the Nikitsky botanical garden are brightly presented.
But in the Nikitsky botanical garden cactuses blossomed. Apparently, comfortably is to them in a greenhouse. And near, on a stone hill, cactuses grow already under the opened sky. Is here and small as hedgehogs, and are also big, under ton it is powerful, so-called prickly padded stools. Employees of a garden dress up most beautiful of them instead of a fir-tree for New Year’s holidays.
- Employees of a garden decorated on New Year’s Eve such types of cactuses as cerecsy, espostoa, a gold sphere, prickly pears and others – are told by the foreman of decorative gardening of the Nikitsky botanical garden Olga Goncharov. – Very much it is pleasant to visitors, stop, photographed against the decorated cactuses.
According to Olga Goncharova, tradition to decorate cactuses in New year appeared about 10 years ago. To do it began with the emergence moment in a garden of a cactaceous exposition.
In noble family of cactuses most of all prickly pears, among winter at them fruits ripen. Experts say that they are quite edible. Remind something average between a cucumber and a water-melon.
At agaves leaves fleshy, large, to two meters. In Mexico where the cactus is represented even on the national coat of arms, of them do ropes and ropes, drugs. And still drive alcohol for the well-known tequila. In general agaves breed quite easily, and here the yucca aloelistny doesn’t give mature seeds.
In the Nikitsky botanical garden cactuses maintain serious Crimean frosts and all thanks to flowering: grow-grow also time – will present to careful owners fine a flower. A unique show – snow, frosts, and a cactaceous greenhouse in color.
And in the city that a garden …
In 1811 with active participation of the known scientist-botanist, the inspector on a shelkovodstvo of the South of Russia of M. Biberstein, in Petersburg the Decree About establishment in the Crimea an imperial state botanical garden was signed. The same year at the village Nikita at local landowner Smirnov 375 dessiatinas of the land are bought. The post of the director of a garden of M. Biberstein offered the assistant, 30-year-old scientist H.Kh.Steven. In September, 1812 made the first landings. So it was begun a modern State Nikitsky botanical garden. In 14 years of tireless activity H.Kh.Steven nicknamed subsequently Nestor of Russian botanists, collected more than 450 types of exotic plants.
Nowadays the live collection of a garden totals 30 thousand types, hybrids and grades of plants practically all countries of the world. It is impossible to describe treasures of this live museum of the nature in several lines!
Strikes imagination a rich collection of coniferous plants. At "Guinness Book of Records" nizmenno there is a sequoia – mamontovo a tree. In the Nikitsky garden some types of these huge plants. Tridtsatimetrovye a sequoia dendrony – still babies, to it isn’t present and 150 years, but diameter of their trunks 170 see. In the homeland, in California this tree grows to 100 m and more, its age reaches 2-3 thousand years. The name of a tree occurs on behalf of the well-known leader of a tribe Sequoia mohawks – the founder of the first American Indian writing.
The cedar Lebanese decorates not only a flag of the homeland, but also landscapes of the Nikitsky garden. Since ancient times and everywhere it was very much highly appreciated. Of its wood built temples and the ships, and also was Artemis’s temple in the Hilt – one of seven wonders of the world is erected.
Compete with cedars, drawing of attention of visitors, pines. There is here a pine Italian and aleppsky, called in honor of the city of Aleppo in northern Syria. The krone of the last is declined towards the South therefore it often call a tree – a compass. The unusual rare pine with very long hanging-down needles, is called in honor of the legendary leader of Aztecs Montezuma.
Certainly, in a garden live not only coniferous. Here it is possible to see the surprising ginkgo which has appeared on Earth about 150 million years ago. A live fossil great Charles Darvin called this tree.
Radical Crimean trees aren’t less curious. In the Nikitsky garden over 500 years, a juniper high, a zemlyanichnik medicinal and other endemic types are presented an oak fluffy, to which.
How to tell about all variety of Nikitsky flora? Wave palm tree fans, arrests a curious look the avenue of oaks stone which wood it is so dense that sinks in water. Rustle with leaves of a thicket of the bamboo growing per day by 40 cm, and twelve trunks dzelkvy the grabolistny grew together and intertwined in one – such is biological feature of this tree.
Usually excursions come to an end at the inclined willow Babylon which, as well as all "plakuchy", is inclined to melancholy. Probably, the easy grief of thousands the people regretting for parting with a place where people try to assimilate to the just was simply transferred to it I Ache, taken with itself in an ark "all kinds of people". Who knows, perhaps during the swimming to Ararat it stopped and in Nikita?
E. GORYUNOVA, literary editor.