Chatkal Yellow Tulip
Status: VU. An endemic species of the Chatkal Ridge with a decreasing population. The most beautiful of the yellow-flowered tulips in Kyrgyzstan. Promising for cultivation.
Description. The bulb is oval, up to 3.5 cm in diameter. The outer scales are gray-brown, thin-skinned at the top, and densely hairy on the inside. The stem is straight, fluffy at the top, up to 30 cm tall. Leaves (3-4), narrow-lanceolate, sharp, upright, bluish, slightly hairy, pressed to the stem, with a pronounced vein, keeled, the lower leaf up to 30 cm long. The flower is solitary, lily-shaped, quite large, light yellow, with a dark yellow spot at the base. The tepals on the outer side are broadly dirty pinkish-mauve. The inner tepals are very narrow lanceolate-rhombic, sharp on both sides, light yellow. The stamens are twice as short as the perianth but longer than the ovary. The anthers are yellow. The capsule is up to 5 cm long, straw-yellow, narrowly three-angled conical.
Biological features. It blooms in early May (in Bishkek - in mid-April), for 2-3 weeks. Fruiting: no data. It reproduces by seeds.
General distribution and in the country. Chatkal Ridge (Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan).
Habitat. Fine soil and loess-gravel slopes in walnut forests. Population: no data. Found scattered.
Limiting factors. Economic use of forest lands. In protected areas: in the spring, the consumption of bulbs by wild animals, mass collection of flowers.
Cultivation. In cultivation, biflorous plants with 8 tepals develop.
Existing conservation measures. Included in the Red Book of the Kyrgyz SSR (1985).
Recommended conservation measures. Organize monitoring of the population status in different areas of the range. In the Sary-Chelek Nature Reserve, ensure full protection of natural habitats, prohibit flower collection, and digging of bulbs.
Chatkal Yellow Tulip
Tulipa anadroma Z. Botsch.
Status: VU. This species is a narrowly spread endemic of the Chatkal Mountain Range (Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan). It reproduces by seeds and is scarcely distributed in walnut forests on metal and loess slopes, in the mid-montane belt. Period of flowering: 2-3 weeks in mid-April (in Bishkek); in culture, biflorous plants with 8-petal perianth occur. Limiting factors: economic development of lands, consumption of bulbs by wild animals in the spring period, and massive collection of flowers due to the high value of the yellow-flowering tulip as an ornamental plant. At present, it is under protection in the Sary-Chelek Nature Reservation, but limitations on land economic development, prohibition of flower collection, and monitoring in habitats are urgently necessary throughout the entire area.
