Minkwitz’s Bastard Toad-Flax
Status: CR. Subendemic. An extremely rare relict plant that is endangered and has great scientific significance. One of four species found in Kyrgyzstan.
Description. A perennial plant with a thick multi-headed root. The stems are numerous, bare, ribbed, up to 40 cm long, and densely leafy. The leaves are dark bluish-gray, leathery, broad-lanceolate, with a whitish margin along the edge. The inflorescence is multi-flowered and racemose. Flowers have 3 broad-lanceolate bracts. The perianth is 12 - 15 mm long, nail-like, yellowish with a five-lobed bend. The fruits are ribbed and cell-like elliptical nuts with a developed network of veins.
Biological features. It flowers and bears fruit in May. Reproduction is by seeds.
Distribution in general and in the country. Within Kyrgyzstan, it is known only from the Kumbel Ridge (Chatkal Ridge system). Outside its borders - in Uzbekistan (Chatkal Nature Reserve).
Habitat. Rocky slopes.
Population. About 7 plants were found in the Chatkal Nature Reserve and 20 - 30 in the Besh-Aral area.
Limiting factors. Economic development of the territory by humans (construction, extraction of minerals).
Cultivation. No information available.
Existing conservation measures. Listed in the Red Data Book of the Kazakh SSR (1981), the Red Data Book of the USSR (1984), and the Red Data Book of the Uzbek SSR (1984). Protected in the Chatkal Nature Reserve (Uzbekistan) and Besh-Aral (Kyrgyzstan).
Recommended conservation measures. It is advisable to make this species one of the main objects of protection in the Besh-Aral Nature Reserve and to conduct research to detect and account for its populations.
Minkwitz’s Bastard Toad-Flax
Thesium minkwitzianum B. Fedtsch.
Status: CR. This rare relic species is under extinction threat and has great scientific importance. It is registered in the Kumbel Mountain Range (Kyrgyzstan) and in adjacent Uzbekistan (Chatkal Nature Reservation). Plants occur at stony slopes. The number in nature is very small (approximately 7 plants in Uzbekistan and 20-30 in Kyrgyzstan). Data on biology and cultivation are absent. Limiting factors: economic development of habitats. The species is included in the USSR Red Book and in the Red Book of Uzbekistan. The species is also included in the Red Book of Kazakhstan, but there have been no registrations in recent years. This plant should be one of the main objects of protection in the Besh-Aral Nature Reservation. Additional studies of distribution and population numbers should also continue.
