Large-calyxed Primrose
Status: VU. In Kyrgyzstan, it is a very narrowly distributed, rare, decorative, and vitamin-rich plant. It is found in a limited area and may soon disappear.
Description. A perennial plant with a rosette of basal leaves. The rhizome is oblique with numerous brownish or whitish cord-like roots. The leaves are blunt, with winged petioles 13 - 20 cm long and 2.2 - 5.6 (7) cm wide. The inflorescence stem (12) is 16 - 30 cm tall, exceeding the length of the leaves. The inflorescence is umbellate, consisting of 3-15 (18) flowers during blooming, slightly leaning to one side. The calyx is short-haired, broadly bell-shaped, and inflated during flowering, measuring 10 - 18 cm in length. The corolla is yellow, with orange spots at the base of the lobes; the lobes are concave, 1.0—1.5 cm in diameter. The capsule is oval, twice as short as the calyx.
Biological features. Blooms in May; fruits in June. Propagates by seeds.
Distribution general and in the country. European part of Russia, the Caucasus, Western and Eastern Siberia. In Kyrgyzstan, it is found on the northern macroslope of the Kyrgyz Range, in the interfluve of the rivers Kegety, Taldy-Bulak, and Shamsi.
Habitat. Forest-meadow zone: forest clearings and tall-herb meadows.
Population. Insignificant.
Limiting factors. Mass collection of flowers and harvesting of plants as medicinal raw materials. Cultivation. Not cultivated in Kyrgyzstan.
Existing conservation measures. Included in the Red Book of the Kyrgyz SSR (1985).
Recommended conservation measures. Determine the status of populations, organize a botanical reserve, introduce as an ornamental and medicinal plant in the Botanical Garden of the National Academy of Sciences of the Kyrgyz Republic.
Large-calyxed Primrose
Primula macrocalyx Bunge
Status: VU. This sporadically distributed widespread species is a rare, very narrowly spread plant in Kyrgyzstan. The specific area is mosaic and includes Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, Iran, Northern Tien Shan, Western and Eastern Siberia. In the Republic, it is distributed in the Alexander Mountain Range (the area between the rivers Kegety and Taldy-Bulak) and occurs at glades and meadow slopes in the forest zone and in tall-herb meadows. Period of flowering: May; reproduction is generative (by seeds); the species is unstudied in culture in Kyrgyzstan. The number in nature is insignificant. Limiting factors: mass collection of flowers and harvesting as a medicinal and vitamin-rich plant. It is necessary for the renewal of numbers and the conservation of the area: to organize special protection of habitats and to introduce it in botanical gardens as a plant of ornamental and medicinal value.
