Hairy-flowered Aulie-Ata / Oluyaata Trichanthera / Aulie-Ata Pseudoglossanthis Centaury

Hairy Flowering Plant Aulie-Ata

Status: EN. A representative of a monotypic section, a narrowly localized endemic, a highly decorative plant.

Description. A perennial plant, sparsely hairy, up to 20-40 cm tall with a thick woody, multi-headed root. The stems are weakly leafy, numerous, strongly woody at the base, branched, above - simple, erect or ascending at the base, weakly leafy. Leaves are bare or almost bare, basal, 10 cm long, up to 2 cm wide, pinnately or twice pinnately dissected, sessile. The flower heads are solitary, their involucres are 6-8 mm long, 14 - 23 mm wide, the leaflets are leathery, with a wide dark brown membranous margin along the edge, the outer ones are broadly lanceolate, the inner ones are elongated-linear; the flowers are heterogeneous, marginal, pistillate with a pinkish-white ligulate corolla; central ones are bisexual, with a densely hairy tubular corolla. Achenes are 2.5 - 3.2 mm long, ribbed, densely hairy, the pappus is crown-like, made of membranous scales.

Biological features. Blooms in May-June; fruits in July. Propagation is by seeds.

Distribution overall and in the country. Southern Kazakhstan (the western part of the northern slope of the Kyrgyz Range, the Almasay area, the Syr-Darya Karatau ridge) and Kyrgyzstan (the Ichkili-Tuu and Ak-Tash ridges, the western part of the southern slope of the Kyrgyz Range, the Kara-Archa area).

Habitat. In hollows and rocky slopes in juniper forests up to an absolute height of 1400-1800 m.

Population. The population of the species is small, it is known only from a few points and from single collections. It has not been recorded in the last 15 years.

Limiting factors. Anthropogenic. Mass collection of flowers by the population of this highly decorative plant, trampling by livestock under excessive grazing pressure. Almost no seed regeneration occurs.

Cultivation. No information available.

Existing conservation measures. Listed in the Red Data Book of the USSR (1975), the Red Data Book of the Kazakh SSR (1978), the Red Data Book of the Kyrgyz SSR (1985).

Recommended conservation measures. Habitat protection, introduction into cultivation as an ornamental plant, monitoring the status of populations.

Oluyata Trichanthemis

Aulie-Ata Pseudoglossanthis Centaury
Trichanthemis aulieatensis (B. Fedtsch.) Krasch. (Pseudoglossanthis aulieatensis (B. Fedtsch.) Poljak)
Status: EN. It is an endangered narrowly distributed species with a decreasing area and number, an ornamental perennial flower, the only representative of a separate section among congeners, endemic to northwestern Kyrgyzstan and southern Kazakhstan. It is known from several sites in the westernmost part of the Alexander Mountain Range (Kara-Archa Ravine), in Syr-Dar Karatau (Kazakhstan), and in the Echkiletau Mountain Ridge but has not been registered in Kyrgyzstan for the last fifteen years. The species was observed as very sparse individuals on stony slopes and in narrow gullies, at 1,400-1,800 m above sea level, up to the juniper open forest belt. Period of flowering: May - June, fruiting in July, propagation is generative (by seeds). Limiting factors: very weak reproduction, excessive pasturage, destruction by cattle trampling, and flower collection by people. The species is included in the USSR Red Data Book in 1975 and the Red Book of Kyrgyzstan in 1985, but areas of occupancy are still out of real protection. There is an urgent need for inventorying populations and organizing effective protection for habitats (prohibition of pasturage, etc.) and introducing it into cultivation.