LILIES - RHS Lily Group
LILIES - RHS Lily Group
LILIES - RHS Lily Group
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
Above, the landscape of the Khoper River in the Nekhaevsky District, seen from the<br />
chalk hills of the right bank looking towards the floodland.<br />
Peculiarities of the flora<br />
The flora of this territory is very rich – more than 1,300 species. There are many<br />
decorative plants among them that light up the landscape around the Khoper<br />
river throughout the growing season. The first to flower in early spring are the<br />
tulips (Tulipa schrenkii and T. biebersteiniana) and other bulbs: Scilla sibirica,<br />
Bellevalia speciosa, Fritillaria ruthenica, Bulbocodium versicolor. Tulips are a<br />
characteristic feature of the true virgin steppes, but they are becoming very rare<br />
plants, and Shrenk’s tulip has been included in the Red Data Book of Russia. It<br />
was this tulip which served as a base for numerous Dutch cultivars, but in nature<br />
its populations have been sharply decreasing. Future generations may never see<br />
the picturesque red-yellow living carpets of wild tulips in spring.<br />
Grasses such as Stipa capillata, S. lessingiana, S. pennata, S. dasyphylla,<br />
S. pulcherrima make irridescent waves in the wind and some higly decorative<br />
and rare species, such as pink Paeonia tenuifolia and yellow Adonis wolgensis<br />
survive. Phlomis pungens, Limonium latifolium, Goniolimon tataricum and<br />
Gypsophila paniculata are present and in autumn their seed is distributed across<br />
the steppe by the wind. There are many subshrubs and dwarf subshrubs in the<br />
106