Gymnospermium Altaicum (Pall.) Spach (Berberidaceae), an Early Spring Element of Wild Fruit Forests of the Trans-Ili Alatau

Abstract

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.

Morphological Variability of Generative Individuals of Rare Decorative Ephemeroids of the Northern Tien Shan As Evidence of Their Adaptive Potential

“…Roem., Crataegus songorica C. Koch, and Armeniaca vulgaris Lam. Detailed descriptions of these communities have been published previously (Abidkulova et al, 2021). At the same time, morphological characteristics such as plant height, inflorescence length, and the number of flowers can be informative in species identification and assessing the state of plants in a population (Kokoreva, 2011;Tan et al, 2011).…”

“…e morphological features of G. altaicum in nature and the introduction have not been studied in detail, except for the studies by Kokoreva (2011) carried out in a hawthorn forest in the gorge of the Zailiyskiy Alatau ridge. For this reason, in 2020, we initiated a detailed study of natural and introduced populations of these species (Abidkulova et al, 2021;Tolenova et al, 2021).…”

Plastid Phylogenomics and Plastome Evolution of Nandinoideae (Berberidaceae)

“…Hence, these genes and regions, in particular, will be powerful molecular markers for future phylogenetic, phylogeographic and/or conservation genetic studies in Nandinoideae. Moreover, these markers should serve as ideal DNA barcodes to discriminate among the often rare, endangered, and medicinally important species of this subfamily (see also Chang et al, 2004 ; Doroftei and Mierla, 2007 ; Karl and Strid, 2009 ; Mikatadze-Pantsulaia et al, 2010 ; Abidkulova et al, 2021 ).…”

“…Most species of Gymnospermium are likewise rich in alkaloids with medicinal properties, such as G. albertii (Iskandarov et al, 1967), G. darwasicum (Zunnunzhanov et al, 1971), G. kiangnanense (Liao et al, 2001), G. smirnovii (Tabatadze et al, 2010), and so on. Additionally, many species of Gymnospermium have been listed as national or international rare and endangered plants (Chang et al, 2004;Doroftei and Mierla, 2007;Karl and Strid, 2009;Mikatadze-Pantsulaia et al, 2010;Abidkulova et al, 2021).…”

“…Takht., G. peloponnesiacum (Phitos) Strid, G. scipetarum Papar. and Qosja ex E. Mayer and Pulević] ( Loconte and Estes, 1989 ; Ying et al, 2011 ; Barina et al, 2015 , 2017 ; Rosati et al, 2018 ; Abidkulova et al, 2021 ).…”