THE KIRGHIZ STEPPE REGION. SI 



in all acacias and papilionaceous flowers tender yellow in the case of one species and pale 

 rose in the other are a strange charm to these bushes so characteristic of the Alpine zone 

 of the Thian-Shan. Of the other bushes the following Siberian Altaic species attain the alpine 

 zone: two meadow sweets (spiraea), potentilla fruticosa L., one species of gatten-tree (coto- 

 neaster), and one of tamariks (myricaria Davurica Ehr.), currant (ribes), willow (salix Sibirica 

 Pall.)- The local forms are two species of honeysuckle (lonicera humilis Kar. and L. Karelini 

 Bge.) and one currant (ribes heterotrichum Mey.). The Alpine herbaceous flora attains here a 

 peculiar luxuriance and variety, with only 15 per cent of general European and 15 per cent of 

 Caucasian plants. Of the remaining 70 per cent of Asiatic species more than half are met 

 with on the Altai-Sayan «bieloks» and «golets», 7 species on the Himalayan range, while not 

 less than 70 species form a speciality of the local flora and probably will be found again only 

 in the Alps of Central Asia. The 7 species are: anemone Falconeri Th., anemone micraniha Kl., 

 corydalis Gortchakovii Schr., oxytropis Kashemiriana Camb., sedum coccineum Royl., carum 

 iudicum Lindl., gentiana Kurroo Royl. Among the 70 species referred to the most remarkable 

 are: one species of aconite (aconitum grandiflorum Kar.), a beautiful species of fumitory, re- 

 cently adopted for cultivation, (corydalis Semenovi Reg.), 22 new species of astragals, mostly 

 of the genus oxytropis su characteristic of the Asiatic Alps, several thick-leaved plants (umbilicus 

 alpestris Kar., umbilicus Semenovi Reg., sedum gelidum Schr.), umbelliferae (for example, 

 peucedanum transiliense Reg. and Semenovia transiliensis Reg.), ten new species of compos- 

 ite cotton-thistles (as, cirsium nidulaus Reg. and cirsium Semenovi Reg., sanssurea glacialis 

 Herd, and sorocephala Schr., alfredia nivea Kar., jurinea sufFruticosa Reg.), a beautiful species of 

 primulaceae (cortusa Semenovii Led.), species of gentians (gentiana Olivieri Oris., swerlia margi- 

 nata Schr.) and some beautiful bulbous plants, as crocus alatavicus Sem., orithya heterophylla 

 Reg., intillaria pallidiflora Schr., fritillaria Severtzovii Reg. and 5 species of onion (allium), 

 of which one (allium Semenovii Reg.) covers the <;sazas;> or elevated Alpine meadows of the 

 Thian-Shan with its largo golden yellow flowers. It is from this characteristic species that 

 the Thian-Shan received its Chinese name of Tsun-Liu or Onion Mountains. 



The vegetation of the lower steppe zone of the submountainous region, below 2,000 feet, 

 approaches the type of the flora of the whole steppe territory of the Kirghiz region, in other 

 words, to that of the Aralo-Caspian depression. This vegetation in the Kirghiz steppe region is 

 in the highest degree peculiar and distinct, compared not only with that of European Russia 

 and Siberia, but with that of their steppes. In it are clearly reflected the climatic conditions; 

 the intensity of the summer heats, the severity of the winters and the absence of moisture. 

 As already stated there are no forests, particuhirly no conifers in the Kirghiz steppe, with the 

 exception of the Kokchetav district, but trees grow along the courses of the rivers. Here be- 

 long: a particular kind of ash '(fraxinus potamophylla Herd.) and four kinds of poplar, populus 

 laurifolia Led., populus nigra L., populus euphratica (01. and p. pruinosa Schr.), as also three 

 European sorts of willow (salix fragilis L., s. purpurea L., s. viniinalis L.) and a very 

 tall species of barberry with roundish rose-coloured berries (berberis integerrima Rge). 



Much more characteristic for the steppe flora are its low growing shrubs, frequently 

 prickly, often covered with a gray or silvery foliage and not seldom characterised by their 

 crookedness. They belong to the families of rues (rutacea"), haplophyllum Sieversii Fiscli. and 



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