How many species of trees, flowers and grasses grow in Uzbekistan? No one has a ready answer to this question. Some townspeople - hundreds, some dare to say - say thousands. In fact, the flora of Uzbekistan is characterized by many amazing and unique species. And when you look at another beautiful flower, you don’t think about it and just marvel at the fantasy of Mother Nature, its diversity and shapes. Sometimes it doesn't seem to matter how many species of plants there are in Uzbekistan. The main thing is that they exist and that is our national wealth, which cannot be overestimated, but it is very sad to understand that one of the species is on the verge of extinction or is extinct.

And here the question of the number of species present in nature takes on a different color. And someone involuntarily remembers a phrase from a well-known and favorite movie, for example: “... without statistics, life becomes hard work. Without statistics, we would not know how well we are doing. " The project "Creation of a central database of plant diversity in Uzbekistan" initiated by the Institute of Gene Funds of Flora and Fauna is very relevant. which is still valued by modern experts and used by future generations of scientists.It is as if we are now turning to the help of various encyclopedias.

Plants are one of the few representatives of the ancient world. It is probably one of the first representatives of the living world (if you do not take into account bacteria and single-celled organisms) and the inhabitants of the earth. Many of them encountered spring and winter in the days when the appearance of our planet was undergoing tremendous changes. Plants are the morning and evening witnesses of the dinosaur era and the silent witnesses of human evolution. These are the chroniclers of the history of the earth, and their disappearance or extinction through human fault is, in fact, an attempt to destroy man's own history, the history of the earth. And that’s why it’s so important to know how much and what more we save to know how to store it. In this sense, the flora database is designed to give us a real picture and give us the key to solving many problems in the way of preserving and multiplying our common wealth, our flora.

We have already reported on the pages of our website about how the project started and the news that Natalya Beshko shared with us - project manager, botanical guru, great connoisseur and friend of the green world. This project is showing good results and we are always pleased with reports of further success of the project from different corners of our country. Pravda Vostoka newspaper wrote about the project and its achievements, the materials of which were published on our website.

The data collected in the project will serve as a basis for planning the development of our forestry and PO system (protected natural areas). This information will help to determine the status of plant resources and establish restrictions on their use, to maintain the "Red Book", to conduct ecological expertise of various economic objects, and so on.

Recently, he once again shared with us the achievements of our project, delighting us with the findings and amazing photos of the plants and natural landscapes of our area. Most of these photos were taken a few hours away from Tashkent and impress with their uniqueness, indescribable freshness and beauty. People have no idea that such plants can grow in our country. In fact, to see them, you have to go through a lot of hardships and difficulties, go through a lot of paths, and move on. And that's good. It is good that many of our plants are still inaccessible to many habitats and that many things are still preserved in nature due to their ephemerality.

This time Natalya's expedition headed for the Western Tien Shan, which was owned by Ugam and Chatkal. The expedition lasted 12 days, from 5 to 16 August. During this time, about 250 km of various roads and mountainous terrain were paved, covered with wheels, and trampled by horses. The expedition collected data for the database and took many photographs for guidance on the flora of the Ugam-Chatkal National Park.

Our mountains are always interesting and beautiful. Any mountainous area is probably the only void, either , so to speak - is an "element", it will be beautiful there at any time of year.

If you look at the map, you can see that almost half of the total length of the Tien Shan Mountains (about 2,500 km) is in Central Asia. Much of the Tien Shan (translated from Chinese as Tien Shan, meaning "star mountains") stretches across the territory of Kyrgyzstan. The south-western part of the Tien Shan accounted for Uzbekistan. This region of Uzbekistan is the richest in various forms and species of flora. Scientists estimate that more than 2,100 plant species grow here, accounting for more than 50 percent of Uzbekistan's wild flora and 25 percent of Central Asia's flora.

During the Soviet era, the nature of Uzbekistan was of great interest to scientists and nature lovers, in general, the flora of the Western Tien Shan is well studied and presented in the works of many scientists. But access to high mountain areas is usually difficult and therefore rarely visited by botanists. Here the largest protected natural areas of the Republic - Ugam-Chatkal National Park stretches along five plant belts - from the short-term (ephemeral) belt to the alpine (alpine) belt. The park includes the Chatkal Biosphere Reserve.

About 1,700 plant species grow in the vast area from the Turan desert flora to the Pamir-Alay mountain flora, of which 61 species are listed in the Red Data Book of Uzbekistan, of which 1,137 species (31 of which are listed in the Red Data Book). Data Book) grows in the reserve area ... Many plant species of the Western Tien Shan are endemic, i.e. they only grow here and are rare. And in this connection this field expedition was carried out. The task of the expedition was to collect the necessary information for the electronic database on the species composition, status and distribution of plants in the region, as well as photographic documentation of alpine species and the creation of a descriptive guide-catalog .

During the expedition, the Chatkal Biosphere Reserve and the Ugam-Chatkal National Park's mid-mountain and highland areas, the Boshqizilsay, Revashtisay, Zindansay, Tereklisay, and Tashkensay basins were inspected on the Kyzylnur and Oqtahta roads. The members of the expedition collected a large-scale herbarium, counted the number of plants, took photos of the plants. Very useful, modern high technologies have entered here, and many scientists in the field have not been saying goodbye to them lately. Coordinates of populations of endemic and rare plant species were recorded using modern technologies of the Global Positioning System (GPS). Data on the habitats of the studied species are included in the database.

In support of the above, we are pleased to present a series of stunning photos to your eyes and attention.

Photo by Natalya Beshko.

Relax

Remember, when driving to the mountains, don’t be tempted to pick flowers or buy on the side of the road. After all, every round is important. And every species that is cut off from life is a crack in a delicate ecosystem. The more species, the more stable the ecosystem.