LILIES - RHS Lily Group

Groves of northern forests
Very close to the hot and sunburnt sands, one can move into the cool shade of
alder forest, under a dense canopy of black alder (Alnus glutinosa). Black alder
communities produce a refuge for many rare and relic plants penetrating to the
south from northern forests. Here you can find thickets of rare ferns. There are
also interesting sedges, rare Veratrum lobelianum, Geum aleppicum and other
unusual plants for that territory, including orchids and bulbs.
Relic lakes
On the sandy floodland terrace of the left side of Kumilga river along the borders
of this sand massif there is a chain of small lakes with a set of rare and interesting
species, many of them came from the north with the glacier and stayed to live
here after it had melted. Here one can find extremely rare Lycopodiella inundata,
and also Menianthes trifoliata, Comarum palustre, white moss Sphagnum and
other plants that are unusual on the steppes. There are also some very rare
orchids, such as Orchis militaris.
Floating islands
Large Babinsky and Small Babinsky Lakes in the environs of stanitsa Alexeevskaya
(named after son of Peter the Great, tsarevich Alexej) are interesting as they have
floating islands (Byalt, Firsov, Sidorov, 2006). Their base is formed by roots of
Phragmites altissimus and there is a real forest growing on these islands with
Betula pubescens and Populus tremula, up to 10 m high and 15-18 cm in trunk
diameter. Islands reach considerable sizes to one hectare and more. In windy
weather they travel from one bank to another. The island may stand near the
bank for a long time, but if the wind changes direction, the island easily travels
to the opposite shore, the trees forming a natural sail. This may frighten the odd
fisherman. It is interesting to have an excursion on such an island as it seems that
you are in real forest but with ones feet dropping into the mossy soil and having
to move with great care, pushing through the large fern Thelypteris palustris and
avoiding the open “windows” of water, fallen twigs and trunks of birches that
have been cut off by beavers. On the island are beautiful flowering herbs such
as Inula helenium and Calystegia sepium but we were not able to discover bulbs
due to the very wet and boggy conditions on the islands. The bulbous plants not
being adapted to stand very wet and boggy places.
Seasonal changes
The profuse flowering of numerous small white flowers of Spiraea crenata and
S. litwinowii, together with pinkish steppe almond (Amygdalus nana), and
white wild plum (Prunus spinosa), shrubby wild cherry (Cerasus fruticosa) gives
the unforgettable picturesque appearance to the spring steppe. In a short time
the steppe changes completely, there is a honey smell all around. There are
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