The Ledebour rhododendron, better known as the maral or Siberian wild rosemary, has bloomed again in the Sayano-Shushensky Reserve. A popular omen says that the newly blossoming wild rosemary predicts a prolonged warm autumn and a harsh winter.
Rhododendron Ledebour is an endemic of the Altai-Sayan mountainous region, often found on the territory of the reserve. For the second year, experts have been registering the flowering of this semi-evergreen shrub in July and August.
“This bloom is not like the spring bloom, when the slopes are almost completely covered with a pink veil. The shrub, decorated with a relatively small number of flowers, seems to remind of the approach of autumn,” say the botanists.
Although scientists do not dare to predict the weather from plants, they agree that the appearance of flowers on a shrub at the end of summer may indeed be associated with it. Temperature fluctuations could "mislead" the plants, which, having received a signal, directed their forces towards flowering, taking the cold snap for winter.
However, “the secondary flowering is caused by a whole complex of reasons, which is another mystery of nature”, the reserve admits and invites ecotourists to admire the fresh bright flowers and buds on the threshold of autumn.
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