In translation from Kyrgyz, "jailoo" means summer pasture. What else do you think this word signifies? Abundance. And this is not accidental. The wealth and beauty of alpine meadows cannot be called anything else.
Above the forests, in the subalpine and alpine meadows, you will see such plants as the flame flower, rock geranium, iris, rock buttercup, windflower, fragrant forget-me-not, and even higher — alpine bluegrass, Semenov's onion, and creeping juniper. A highlight of the alpine landscape of Kyrgyzstan is the edelweiss, blooming on the rocks, among the morainic accumulations and glaciers. Its fluffy coat reliably protects it from the icy breath of the highlands. In the mountains of Kyrgyzstan, there are four species, and the most beautiful of them grow in the Central Tien Shan, in the gorges of Terkey and Kungoy Ala-Too. Edelweiss blooms from June to September, and you will never find two identical ones among them; each flower is unique in its own way.
Close to edelweiss in endurance is the Richter's daisy. Amazing in beauty, it climbs high on the ridges and peaks of mountains, where there is even no soil, and proudly throws its flower towards the sun. The Richter's daisy grows only in high altitudes, not lower than three thousand meters and up to 4200 meters above sea level, and blooms in the cloud heights throughout the summer.
Above 3300 meters, besides edelweiss and Richter's daisy, you can encounter only sheep, feather grass, and fescue. The latter is called by the locals "old woman's hair": its long creeping stems twist and change color from dark at the root to silvery-gray at the end. Another two hundred meters higher, these grasses are replaced by plants of the alpine desert, mainly cushion-like semi-shrub xerophytes and wandering lichens. Even higher, in the rocky tundra zone, individual specimens of diadem flower, Richter's daisy, and stonecrops, as well as cushions of mosses and lichens, can be found.
A meeting with the plant world of Kyrgyzstan will give you a wealth of wonderful impressions. In a short time of travel, you can create such a rich herbarium that would take months, if not years, of trips to other places. As for tourism organizers, they should consider developing specialized tourist tours for plant collecting or gathering medicinal herbs. Such tours are gaining immense popularity in both near and far foreign countries.
