Deutzias are ornamental and resistant to technogenic pollution shrub plants that are widely used in landscaping. Resistance to various adverse environmental factors, in paticular to drought, is important for such plants. Visual assessment of field drought tolerance of plants is not always sufficient; moreover, it does not reflect the smallest reactions of the plant at the physiological level. Therefore, it was decided to determine the degree of drought tolerance of plant species and cultivars of the genus Deutzia from the arboretum collection of the M.M. Gryshko National Botanical Garden of the NAS of Ukraine by studying the water regime of leaves. The study was carried out in the second decade of June 2018 during the period of active growth of shoots. It was preceded by a long period without precipitation. Leaves of all stadied plants of the genus Deutzia quite intensively lose water during twenty-four hours, but then they resume its content, although to a different degree (by 17.8±3.55–53.9±2.08 % of its content when fully saturated). According to the results of this study, D. gracilis and D. × elegantissima were most resistant to drought. The least resistant to drought are D. schneideriana, D. mollis and D. scabra. In general, plants of the genus Deutzia are sensitive to water deficiency in the soil, but they are able to renew water lost after prolonged drought
Deutzia Thunb., leaf, water regime, drought tolerance