【目的】 培育适合北方寒冷地区栽培的彩叶桦,满足园林绿化对彩叶树种的需要。【方法】 以引种的紫雨桦(Betula pendula ‘Purple Rain’)为母本,东北地区广泛分布的白桦(B. platyphylla SUK.)为父本,通过杂交、群体及个体选择等育种技术获得了耐寒性较强的 ‘紫霞1号’彩叶桦新品种。【结果】 该品种树干灰白色,枝条红褐色,叶为紫色,叶色为其主要观赏特性。但叶色随着季节变化而略有改变,春季新生叶全部为紫色,夏季老叶呈紫绿色,新叶为紫色,秋末随着温度降低,叶片呈深紫粉色。【结论】 ‘紫霞1号’适宜栽培区域为黑龙江、吉林、辽宁省,宜在微酸性至中性壤土栽植。

【Objective】 To meet the demands of landscape cultivars with colorful foliage, Betula platyphylla, a native birch species growing in northeast China has been cultivated widely. 【Mothed】With B. pendula ‘Purple Rain’ as female and B. platyphylla as male parent, a newly released variety of Betula pendula ‘Zixia 1’ exhibits strong cold hardiness. 【Result】 ‘Zixia 1’ is obtained through a series of breeding steps including crosses, family and individual selections. The main ornamental characteristics of ‘Zixia 1’ have gray white trunk, reddish brown branches and purple leaves. The leaves are changed with the seasons. All leaves are purple in spring, green in summer, purple in early autumn and dark purple pink in late autumn. 【Conclusion】 The cultivar ‘Zixia 1’ grows best in slightly acid to neutral loam in Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning Provinces.