The genus includes about 30 species of bathing suits, most of them grow in Eurasia, two in North America. On the territory of Russia and the countries of the former Soviet Union, about 20 species are found in nature.
According to their habitat, they are conditionally divided into the following groups:
European and Caucasian bathing suits – European (T. Europaeus), semi-open (T. Patulus) and highest (T. Altissimus);
European bathing suit flower in the photo
Flower bathing suit half-open in the photo
Flower bathing suit the highest in the photo
Central Asian and Siberian swimsuits – Altai (T. Altaicus), stemless (T. Acaulis), Dzhungarian (T. Dschungaricus), purple (T. Lilacinus), dwarf (T. Pumilus);
Altai bathing suit flower in the photo
Flower swimsuit stemless in the photo
Dzungarian bathing suit flower in the photo
Lilac swimsuit flower in the photo
Flower bathing suit dwarf in the photo
Far Eastern bathing suits – Chinese (T. Chinensis), beautiful (T. Pulcher), Ledebour (T. Ledebourii), Rider (T. Riederianus).
Chinese bathing suit flower in the photo
The flower bathing suit is beautiful in the photo
Ledebour’s bathing suit flower in the photo
Rider’s bathing suit flower in the photo
At present, hybrid forms and varieties of bathing suits, created on the basis of European, Asian, Altai and Chinese varieties, are mostly grown in gardens. They are conditionally united under the name cultural swimsuit (T. Cultorum), or hybrid (T. Hybridus). These are plants 40-90 cm tall, with larger flowers compared to wild-growing representatives of various shades of white, cream, yellow and orange, often with double petals and sepals.
Flower bathing suit cultural in the photo
Flower bathing suit hybrid in the photo
Hybrid swimwear
Numerous varieties of hybrid bathing suit are usually classified by color. Yellow swimsuits include lemon yellow Lemon Queen, bright yellow Light Ball and Goldquail, the latter with flowers up to 6 cm in diameter, pale yellow Canary Bird.
The group of orange bathing suits is more numerous. It includes such well-known varieties as Goliath, tall, up to 90 cm, with large (7 mm), dark orange or orange-red, lighter flowers towards the center, Fire Globe, about 60 cm high with orange-red sepals and orange nectaries, up to 5 cm in diameter. Swimwear Orange Princess, bright orange, Orange Cross, yellow-orange, Orange King, dark orange, have flowers with a diameter of about 5 cm and a long (up to 30 days) flowering period.
Another well-known variety, Alabaster, is distinguished by an unusual, characteristic only for this hybrid, pale cream color of large flowers and low, about 35 cm, growth.
Garden bathing suits
Among garden swimsuits there are not only hybrid, but also species plants. Most often it is the European and Asian varieties, but sometimes the following less common species are also grown in culture:
Chinese swimsuit , or large-petal, naturally growing in Northern China, in the Far East of Russia, in Japan, preferring wet places: damp glades and edges, thickets of shrubs. Its appearance is similar to the Asian variety, however, the size is larger, the growth of the bush can reach 1 m or more, golden yellow flowers are more open, up to 5 cm in diameter, with wide oval sepals and long, up to 3 cm, linear nectary petals. It differs in later flowering, which begins in mid-July and lasts up to 30 days. In culture since 1827, the Golden Queen variety is especially popular with bushes up to 80 cm high and flowers up to 6.5 cm in diameter, orange-yellow, with long stamens.
Ledebour’s swimsuit , another Far Eastern species, is found in China, Japan, the Far East and Eastern Siberia. It is similar to the previous variety, but even higher, reaches 120 cm. It blooms profusely, there can be up to 40 flowers on one bush, and late, in July, due to which it does not interbreed with other types of bathing suits. Open orange or yellow flowers up to 8 cm in diameter, distinguished by very long stamens and bright yellow nectaries that stand out strongly above the sepals. The most frost-resistant species, introduced into cultivation in 1880. In European countries, varieties are grown that differ in size and color, but they are practically not found in our gardens.
Altai swimsuit , unlike previous species, is an inhabitant of alpine, subalpine meadows and the upper border of the forest belt, found in the Altai Mountains, Western Siberia, Mongolia, Northern China. It grows up to 80 cm, blooms in May-June with orange or light yellow, slightly reddish flowers on the outside with a black-purple center formed by dark-colored stamens and pistils. Grown in ornamental gardens since 1874.
Yellow and orange bathing suits
The vast majority of species have yellow or orange flowers, but there are a few with an atypical white or lavender color. These are representatives of the flora of the alpine belt, growing in high-mountain meadows near the snowmelt zone, the paper-cup swimsuit (T. Chartosepalus), an inhabitant of the Kolyma Highlands, and purple (T. Lilacinus), found in the highlands of Altai, Sayan, Tien Shan, Western Himalayas.
Paper cup flower in the photo
Lilac swimsuit flower in the photo
The latter species is especially decorative, has light purple flowers with numerous sepals and bright yellow stamens, blooming in June-July on low, up to 10 cm, peduncles. The latter species is especially decorative, has light purple flowers with numerous sepals and bright yellow stamens, blooming in June-July on low, up to 10 cm, peduncles. This attractive flower does not take root well in culture, since it is difficult to create specific conditions suitable for it in the garden, but it is very promising in terms of creating new varieties with an unusual blue, purple color and increased winter hardiness.
It should be noted that both in natural conditions and in culture, bathing suits are easily cross-pollinated and form various interspecific hybrids, which makes it difficult to identify them even for specialists.
All hybrids and varieties of the flower are of foreign selection, in our gardens it is quite rare. Perhaps this is due to the difficulties of transportation, which usually leads to overdrying of the rhizomes and, consequently, poor survival of seedlings. More often than others in Russia and neighboring countries, you can find the above-described varieties of the swimsuit of the cultural Orange princesses and the Chinese Golden Queen. Other hybrids, and especially species plants, can only be found in collectors, although this winter-hardy and not too demanding in care flowering culture deserves more distribution.