LIRIODENDRON

LIRIODENDRON

„Liriodendron tulipifera Edward Gursztyn”
How did the variant of the American tulip ‘Edward Gursztyn’ originate?

In decorative nursery new varieties are most often created as a result of spontaneous changes in the plant. Many nurserymen find new varieties as seedlings that differ significantly from mother plants or as spontaneous mutations on parts of an adult plant. These mutated parts of the plant have new characteristics, clearly different from the characteristics of the mother plant, normal growth or heavily curbed, and then we deal with the so-calledwitchs’ brooms. In addition to the opportunities offered by nature to obtain new varieties, there are also various breeding programs in which as a result of crossbreeding many new, valuable varieties are obtained. However, it is expensive and requires a lot of time.For example, new varieties of roses in the vast majority are formed precisely on the way of crossing.

And how was it with our variety of tulip trees?

In 1995, one part of the tulip seedling included one with clearly weaker growth. It was notknown at the time whether this was due to weaker fertilization, some infection or individual traits. Most often weak plants are discarded. A coincidence made this plover find itself not in
the compost. After only two years it was clear that it could be “something”. The height of this small seedling was then about 20 cm and its “normal” peers almost 1m. Now it was only necessary to look after, guard and observe. After five years, I did the first multiplication by grafting. Due to the fact that the mother plant has the shape of a rounded bush, it was necessary to find out what would be grafted on the trunk. It turned out that the stem form is
much more attractive than the bushy one. The crown is dense and almost perfectly spherical. An important question was the issue of frost resistance. It is known that young tulip plants can freeze. In the case of our seedling it was a nice surprise. The five-year-old plant withstood -30 Celsius degrees. I learned from my fellow nurserymen that during the winter 2009/2010 this strain withstood without any damage to temperature -32 and -35 Celsius degrees. In 2005, we applied the variety to the Central Research Center for Varieties of CultivatedPlants in Słupia Wielka. After four years of research in 2009, we were granted the exclusive right to the tulip variety Edward Gursztyn in Poland for the period up to 2039. In 2010, we filed an application with the Community Office for the Protection of Varieties to obtain the exclusive right to the variety and on June 20th, 2011 we received a positive
decision. Thus, the American tulip ‘Edward Gursztyn’ variety has legal protection throughout the European Union and cannot be reproduced without our consent. Where did the name of the variety come from?

Edward Gursztyn was the founder of a fruit nursery in the Borderlands in the former Nowogródek Voivodeship and then after the war he gave rise to all Braniewo nurseries. This was my father, the father of eight children, our teacher of honest life, solid and persistent work. A man of unwavering character, a Soviet prisoner. He instilled in us the love of God and the Fatherland. Lucjan Gursztyn

AWARDS

The American tulip tree ‘Edward Gursztyn” in the Botanical Garden in Powsin

On 6th September 2011, a new educational path was opened with plants from North America called “From catalpa to American sweetgum on the tulip tree leaves”. The path was dedicated to members of the Polish-American Joint Commission forHumanitarian Aid and a group of experts and agricultural advisors who worked in Poland in the early nineties of the last century. At that time, the United States provided financial support for the construction of agricultural infrastructure, including the construction of rural water supply systems. Implementation of the assistance took place under the patronage of the Polish Episcopate. Thus, during the opening of the path, His Eminence, Fr. Cardinal Józef Glemp, US ambassador to Poland Lee Feinstein, and adviser to the President of the Republic of Poland prof. T. Borecki were present.
An important point of the ceremony was planting a tree by the invited, distinguished guests.An American tulip tree ‘Edward Gursztyn’ was chosen for this purpose. It was emphasizedthat this is the American species and the Polish variety. Fr. Primate also blessed the newly opened educational path.

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