65 



gains ftlicaulis and camphylotrichus, Plantago lachnantha, Tri- 

 bnlus terrestris. 



Here and there in patches are found the stiff- haired 

 Chenopod Halocharis hispida, or Bassia sedoides, and often 

 on saline spots there is the very small succulent Tetradiclis 

 tenella. 



Noteworthy amongst the perennials which bloom in 

 the spring are a fine red Tulipa sp., Ixilirion Pallasii, with 

 blue blossoms, Ailium Tschulpias and other species, Gagea 

 reticulata, the tuberous geophytes Geranium tuberosum and 

 Leontice incerta, besides Iris caucasica, falcifolia, etc. 



Eremostachys labiosa (fig. 7), a foot-high Labiate with 

 handsome Acanthus-like foliage and large light flowers is so 

 plentiful in places that the green grass is dotted over; it has 

 tubers and is a hemicryptophyte like Ferula Asa foetida. 

 This latter also dominates large areas in some places with 

 its large yellowish-white compound umbels rising a metre or 

 more above the ground, in other places it is represented 

 only by rosettes of large dissected leaves which are already 

 turning yellow at the end of May; the plant has tubers and 

 thick rhizomes. 



Rheum tataricum occurs locally spreading its large bossed 

 leaves, a metre wide over the ground. I have not seen it in 

 bloom, but to judge from an illustration published by TAN- 

 FILJEW (1903 p. 390) the inflorescence is strongly branched 

 and rather low. In the middle of May the leaves are already 

 turning yellow. 



Other hemicryptophytes found during spring in the semi- 

 desert are : Astragalus Alopecias with vigorous prostrate shoots 

 which have multipinnate silver-white leaves and dense yellow 

 flower-heads, A. sogdianus, A. macronyx with its yellow 

 blossoms on short stalks at the base of the long leaves, A. 

 mucidus, ftexus, orbiculatus, Petunnikowi and other species, 

 Solenanthus petiolaris, Gentiana Oliuieri, several species of Scor- 

 zonera with tubers, Taraxacum sp. Dianthus crinitus and an- 

 gulatus, Ranunculus Sewerzowi, oxyspermus and other species, 

 Haplophyllum lasianthum, Lepidium Draba, Andrachne tele- 

 phioides, Onosma hispidum, Achillea micrantha, Cachrys didyma, 

 Carex stenophylla var. desertorum, species of Carum, Peucedanum, 



5 



