Lepidolopha Komarovii
Status: EN. An endemic species of mountainous Central Asia, representative of the endemic Central Asian genus. Ornamental.
Description. A shrub up to 1 m tall, branching from the base. Annual branches are straight and densely pubescent, with dense leaves at the bottom and single leaves at the top. Leaves are bluish-green and densely pubescent; lower leaves are 4-10 cm long, three-lobed into linear segments, petiolate. Flower heads on short peduncles, gathered in 5-20 in a cyme. Involucres are multi-rowed, cylindrical, with densely pubescent bracts. Flowers are yellow. The pappus is twice as short as the achene.
Biological features. Flowers in June-July; fruits in August-September. Propagates by seeds.
Pamir-Alai: Nuratau, Koytash, Zeravshan, Gissar and Western Tian Shan ranges: Pskem, Ugam, Chatkal and Syrdarya Karatau ranges (Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Southern Kazakhstan). In Kyrgyzstan, herbarium collections are known from one site (at the confluence of the Kara-Suu and Naryn rivers).
Habitat. Fine-soil, rocky slopes, screes, and trails in the lower and middle mountain zones.
Population. Very limited in nature. Total population not established.
Limiting factors. Human economic activity. Intensive livestock grazing in summer. Cultivation. Not studied in cultivation.
Existing conservation measures. Included in the Red Book of the Kyrgyz SSR (1985).
Recommended conservation measures. Organization of botanical reserves in areas with higher population concentrations, introduction in the Botanical Garden of the National Academy of Sciences of the Kyrgyz Republic.
Komarov’s Lepidolopha
Komarov’s Lepidolopha
Lepidolopha komarowii C.Winkl
Status: EN. It is a little-known representative of the Middle Asian endemic genus, distributed in the Ugam, Pskem, Chatkal, Kurama, Turkestan, Zaravshan, and Hissar Mountain Ranges. In the Republic, it is known from herbarium samples from the northwesternmost Kyrgyzstan at the Kazakh border (VI. Tkatchenko’s personal communication) and at the junction of the Naryn and Kara-Suu rivers (right tributary of Naryn). It is a very rare ornamental shrub plant that populates silty-soil and stony slopes and screes in low- and mid-montane zones. Period of flowering: June - July, fruiting in August - September; propagation is generative; the plant is unstudied in culture. Limiting factors: an increase in human economic activity in habitats, excessive pasturage during the summer period. The conservation of the species should be supported by its introduction in the Bishkek Botanical Garden and by the creation of botanical wildlife areas in places with abundant populations.