Flowering of rare plants began in Sochi

Flowers appeared on «strawberry», «tulip» and «silverbell» trees in the famous Arboretum park.

These exotic plants grow only in the territory of the Sochi National Park; they are not grown anywhere else in the south of Russia. As per the press service of the Sochi National Park, strawberry shrub («wine» tree) is a flowering native of the United States. Both leaves and flowers of the tree have their scent, but the dried bark has a very strong savor.

Tulip tree is considered one of the most beautiful trees on the planet. Flowers resembling tulips bloom one on each branch. The life span of the tree is about 500 years. Sochi's oldest tree is approximately 180 years old.

The Sochi National Park explained that Halesia, also known as silverbell or snowdrop tree comes from Asia. Its flowers are not alike real flowers, but they have a similar smell. In winter, the tree is covered with bright red fruits.

In addition to unusual trees, unique orchids bloomed in the Arboretum - Serapias vomeracea (common name long-lipped serapias or the plow-share serapias) - a whole meadow of them - 160 plants. According to experts, this is a rare occasion when so many of these flowers grow in one place at once. Serapias is a species of orchid in the genus Serapias. It is listed in the Red Books of Russia and the Krasnodar Territory.