Pasternak's Glacier / Miongu Pastinacopsis / Pastinacopsis
Glacial Pastinacopsis
Status: EN. A rare endemic species of a monotypic genus in the Northern Tien Shan.
Description. A perennial polycarpic plant. The stems are numerous, 2-3 mm in diameter at the base, often curved, pressed to the ground, rising, finely ribbed, covered with white, bristly hairs, often purple, branching from the base. The leaves are predominantly basal, hairy, with leaf blades pinnately dissected, 2-5 cm long, 1.5-2.0 cm wide, ovate in shape. The lobes of the leaf blade number 3-6, 8-16 mm long, 6-12 mm wide, rounded-ovate or heart-shaped, less often with a wedge-shaped base, serrated along the edge, with a blunt tip. The umbels have long pedicels, 2-3 cm in diameter, with 4-7 approximately equal, bristly rays, up to 1.5 cm long, without bracts or with bracts made of 3-4 short triangular or linear hairy leaflets. The umbellules are 4-8-flowered. There are bracts and involucral bracts. The petals are reddish-purple, white-hairy on the back, pointed at the tip and bent inward. The anthers are yellow. The fruits are flat, rounded, 5-6 mm long and wide, hairy, with thread-like dorsal ribs and winged edges. The mesocarp has a well-developed layer of woody fibrous cells.
Biological features. Reproduction is only by seeds, which do not ripen every year. It blooms in July-August, fruits in August-September. Mesophyte.
Distribution overall and in the country. Central Asia, Western China (Xinjiang). Northern Tien Shan, Zailiyskiy Alatau range and Kyrgyz Ala-Too (Chon-Kurchak and Shamsi areas).
Habitats. Alpine and nivale belts of mountains at an altitude of 3000-3500 m above sea level, glacial cirques, mobile fine gravel slopes, rocky southern slopes.
Population. Insignificant, possible complete extinction.
Limiting factors. May disappear due to low numbers and small range. Cultivation. Not cultivated.
Existing conservation measures. Included in the Red Book of the Kazakh SSR (1981) and the Red Book of the USSR (1984).
Recommended conservation measures. Maintain a protected regime. Create a nature reserve in the Kyrgyz ridge in the upper reaches of the Shamsi river, where there is an isolated point of the species' range and where natural forest and high-altitude vegetation are well preserved.
Mönge Pastinacopsis
Pastinacopsis
Pastinacopsis glacialis Golosk
Status: EN. It is representative of a monotypic genus (unique element of the world genetic fund), a perennial mesophytic altimountainous plant with a disjunctive area. It is distributed in the Transiliense Mountains (Southeastern Kazakhstan), Alexander Mountain Range (Kyrgyzstan; two sites) and Xinjiang (Western China). The species populates metal and stony slopes of southern exposition, as well as glacial cars, in alpine and sub-glacial belts, at 3,000-3,500 m above sea level. Period of flowering: July-August, fruiting in August-September, propagation is generative (by seeds) only and seeds do not ripen every year. The species is unstudied in culture; the number in nature is insignificant, global extinction is possible. Limiting factors: small number and area of occupancy. This species is included in the Red Books of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan (in 1984) but no preservation measures have been elaborated. It is recommended to create a botanical wildlife area in the Shamsi riverhead, where there are populations of this species and highland undisturbed vegetation.
