Abstract
IN a communication to the St. Petersburg Society of Naturalist (Proceedings, 1895, i.), M. Komaroff thus sketches the flora of the Zerafshan region of Russian Turkestan. The Aral-Caspian flora covers the lowlands up to the 1000 to 1500 feet level. Next comes the prairie, or Steppe, zone, which spreads up to about 3500 feet of altitude. In its upper parts it is characterised by Steppe-bushes, of which the almond-tree (Amygdalus spinosissimus, Bunge) is the most characteristic representative. Higher up, from 3500 to 6000, or 6200 feet, comes the zone of deciduous trees, which may be subdivided into a lower sub-zone of Mediterranean trees (Pistacia vera, Celtis aiistralis, Amygdalus communis, Acer monspessulanum, &c.), with a prevalence of fragrant Labiatæ, which attains approximately the 4500 feet level; and an upper sub-zone characterised by maple-trees (Acer lactum). The zone between 6000 feet and nearly 8500 feet is taken by the Juniperus-trees which correspond in Zerafshan to the coniferous trees of other regions. It is covered at its upper limits with rampant bushes of Juniferus nana and pseudosabina, Comarum, Cotoneaster, Lonicera, Astragalus, and so on. The Alpine zone attains the levels of 11,000 and 12,000 feet—the morainic plants, Didymophysa fedtschenkoana, Corydalis fedtschenkoana, Cerastium lithospermifolium, Saxifraga axillaris and Allardia tomentosa reaching the highest altitudes. On the Zerafshan glacier, at a spot where it was covered with some gravel, the author found specimens of Saxifraga axillaris, Epilobium latifolium, Arabis tibetica, Poa karatavica, and one Carex—a fact which shows how careful one must be in interpreting the real sense of plant-bearing strata imbedded amidst morainic deposits. It is also worthy of note, that the botanic zones of Zerafshan very much correspond to the zonal geological structure of the highlands. The Aral-Caspian flora covers the æolic deposits of the great desiccated inner sea of Central Asia; the Steppe flora covers the Loess girdle; the Mediterranean trees and shrubs occupy the limestones and the marls, while the Juniperus zone spreads over the crystalline slates and limestones, and the Alpine flora covers the higher granitic massives of the highlands. Man evidently alters to a great extent the character of the vegetation—pistachio-tree groves and the Juniperus excelsa trees being rapidly destroyed; while the hundreds of thousands of sheep which are brought every year to the Zerafshan mountains from the lowlands, entirely destroy the Alpine prairies—thickets of Artemisia dracunculus taking the place of the grasses.
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Flora of Zerafshan. Nature 53, 496 (1896). https://doi.org/10.1038/053496b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/053496b0