The floristic composition of communities of apple and hawthorn forests with the participation of the rare species Gymnospermium altaicum (Pall.) Spach was studied in the Trans-Ili (Zailiyskiy) Alatau . The list of higher plants includes 156 species from 121 genera and 48 families. Most of them (84%) are herbaceous plants; there are 25 tree and shrub species, nine of which are wild non-native species (Ulmus laevis, Ulmus pumila, Morus nigra, Juglans regia, Malus domestica, Acer negundo, Acer platanoidеs, Viburnum opulus and Parthenocissus quinquefolia). Representatives of ten families make up 65% of the total number of species: Asteraceae, Poaceae, Rosaceae, Lamiaceae, Apiaceae, Fabaceae, Ranunculaceae, Caryophyllaceae, Boraginaceae, and Scrophulariaceae. The floristic core of the surveyed communities consists of 39 species, which mainly belong to the group of forest and forest-meadow ecological elements. Also other rare species listed in the Red Book of Kazakhstan, Malus sieversii, Armeniaca vulgaris and Paeonia intermedia, were found in these communities. We noticed signs of anthropogenic disturbance in the studied communities, including the presence of adventive and wild non-native species. We recommend to organize regular monitoring and strengthen the protection of the communities surveyed.

We assessed the adaptive potential of two rare decorative species listed in the Red Book of Kazakhstan : Tulipa tarda Stapf (Liliaceae) and Gymnospermium altaicum (Pall.) Spach (Berberidaceae) by studying the morphological variability of generative individuals of the species. Our studies were carried out in natural populations in the Northern Tien Shan and introduced populations of the botanical garden and urban green areas of Almaty. These species showed a high degree of adaptation under the conditions of the introduction. Moreover, Gymnospermium altaicum , accidentally introduced into the urban green area of Bukhar Zhyrau Boulevard (Almaty), had formed a naturalized population that persisted for more than 8 years. The naturalized population of Tulipa tarda in the botanical garden (Almaty), introduced more than 20 years ago by one of the authors of this article, has been in existence even longer. In the latter case, individuals of seed origin showed higher adaptive capabilities than those transferred by the bulbs of generative plants.