LILIES - RHS Lily Group

glades at places Berezniki (environs of stanitsa Kumilzhenskaya), Shakinskaya Dubrava,
Lokhmaty Barrow and others. Not seldom. Steppe plants. Fl. VI-VII.
A. tulipifolium Ledeb.
Perennial. Steppe chalk slopes, steep riverbanks, shrubby thickets. Seldom. It was not
identified for the Khoper area (Sagalaev, 1987). Fl. IV-V. It is distinguished from the closely
related A. decipiens by whitish (not pinkish), small flowers, anthers being protruded from
the corolla, and by a shorter cover. Besides, A. tulipifolium flowers earlier in the year, so
it is fruiting in June when A. decipiens is only beginning to flower. Steppe plants.
V.P. Drobov (1906) identified another two species: Allium flavum L. for chalks near
stanitsa Zotovskaya and A. moschatum L. for sands near stanitsa Ust-Buzulukskaya.
It is not clear for us what alliums Mr Drobov had in mind under these names, because
both species were described from Western Europe and apparently don’t reach the
Khoper River. We don’t know where the herbarium specimens of V.P. Drobov are kept.
We may suppose that A. flavum in his understanding is identical to A. flavescens Bess.
Fam. COLCHICACEAE DC.
Bulbocodium versicolor (Ker-Gawl). Spreng.
Perennial. Kumilzhensky district, slopes of steppe ravines between stanitsa Slaschevskaya
and khutor Shakin, near khutor Filinsky, on glades and edges in Shakinskaya Dubrava;
Nekhaevsky district, near stanitsa Upornikovskaya; at times it is cultivated (khutor
Chunosov). Very seldom. Edge of wood-steppe plants. Fl. III-IV. Included in the Red
Data Book of Russia (1988, 2005) and of the Volgograd region (2005). The population
of Bulbocodium near stanitsa Slaschevskaya is very small, situated along the edge of
ravine, between agricultural field and slope of ravine, and may easily disappear. Plants
with white flowers (f. alba) were found in the wild by local naturalist Sergej Grishin and
replanted in his private garden.
Colchicum laetum Stev.
Perennial. Virgin steppe, saline soils and salty meadows. This species has not been
found in the territory of the park yet, but identified in neighbouring territories of the
Rostov region, in the environs of stanitsa Bokovskaya and khutor Grachev (Fedyaeva,
2004). Halophilous-steppe plants. It is included in Red Data Book of Russia (1988,
2005). This species is of very late flowering, usually in October, and apparently may be
missed by collectors.
Fam. HYACINTHACEAE Batsch
Bellevalia speciosa (Georgi ex . Grossh.) Woron.
(B. sarmatica (Pall. ex Georgi) Woronow)
Perennial. Steppe slopes and edges of shrubs of a ravine Dolgy on right side of the
Khoper River, environs of stanitsa Slaschevskaya. Seldom. Edge of wood-steppe plants.
In former times this species was widely distributed throughout steppe zone of Eastern
Europe. After the virgin steppe was ploughed up it has been quickly disappearing, and
is a very rare plant. It is included in the Red Data Book of Russia (1988, 2005) and of the
Volgograd region (2005). In the Lower Khoper Nature Park is was discovered on steppe
slopes and on the edge of the Dolgy Ravine on the right side of the Khoper River, in
the environs of stanitsa Slaschevskaya ( Firsov, Baranova, 2002). It was also identified
in khutor Ostroukhovsky of Kumilzhensky district (Sagalaev, 2000).
This species is more widely known under name B. sarmatica (Pall. ex Miscz.) Woronow,
but E.V. Mordak in her last publications clarified that Bellevalia speciosa (Georgi ex
Grossh.) Woron. is its true name and has priority. (Mordak, 2003).
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