Zenaida’s Tulip
Status: VU. A narrowly endemic species of the Kyrgyz Ridge, at risk of rapidly disappearing due to limited habitat area.
Description. Bulb up to 3 cm in diameter, in leathery, black and dark brown tunics, with pressed hairy pubescence inside at the top and base. The plant has a submerged base of leaves and a nearly stemless flower. Stem with a purple hue, 10-15 cm high, up to 40 cm in poorly lit areas. There are 3 leaves, large, elongated, bluish-pale green with bright veins, glabrous. The flower is solitary, yellow on the outside and red, up to 5 cm long. The short stem reduces the plant's value. The outer tepals are elongated or narrow-rhombic; the inner ones are oblong. The center of the flower resembles a black star. The filaments of the stamens are yellow or black. The anthers are yellow.
Biological features. Blooms in April-May. In nature and in cultivation, it reproduces by seeds.
Distribution in general and in the country. Kyrgyz Ridge (Kyrgyzstan, Southern Kazakhstan).
Habitat. Fine soil and gravelly slopes in the lower mountain zone among diverse herbaceous-timothy steppes and scrub vegetation.
Population. Natural reserves are limited.
Limiting factors. Economic activity, uncontrolled spring pasturing, mass collection of flowers, digging up bulbs.
Cultivation. Difficult to introduce, quickly disappears from plantings. Blooms in Bishkek in mid-April, for 8-10 days. Produces almost no seeds.
Existing conservation measures. Included in the Red Book of the Kyrgyz SSR (1985).
Recommended conservation measures. Establishment of botanical reserves in areas of highest concentration of the species, monitoring of population status. Prohibit mass flower collection, bulb digging, and livestock grazing.
Zenaida’s Tulip
Tulipa zenaidae Vved.
Status: VU. It is a vulnerable narrow-endemic species of the Alexander Mountain Range (Northern Kyrgyzstan and Southern Kazakhstan), a little-known plant. Small groups of plants are scarcely distributed in low mountains on metal and silty-soil slopes with forb grass and sheep’s fescue steppes and scrubby vegetation. Flowering period: 8-10 days in April - May. Propagation is generative (by seeds) both in nature and in culture; it is a plant of difficult cultivation (low seed production). Limiting factors: spring pasturage, collection of flowers and bulbs. This species has been included in the Red Book of the country since 1985. Creation of botanical wildlife areas in territories with concentrated populations, monitoring, and prohibition of flower collection and pasturage are necessary for the conservation of the species.
