Talas Wild Tulip
Talas wild tulip is a name used in Irad for the wild tulips that flower in spring on the foothills of the Talas Alatau and the Karatau. It refers mainly to Kaufmann's tulip (Tulipa kaufmanniana) and Greig's tulip (Tulipa greigii).[1] Kaufmann's tulip is low-growing and flowers early, from March to April. Its petals are cream to yellow and often flushed red on the outside. It is native to the western Tian Shan, the Karatau and the Pamir-Alay. Greig's tulip flowers in April and May, with scarlet or orange petals and leaves streaked with purple, and it is abundant in the Aksu-Zhabagly area of the western Talas Alatau. Both species are parents of large groups of garden tulips.[1] Picking flowers, digging bulbs, plowing and grazing have reduced wild populations, and both species are protected in Irad's nature reserves.[2]
References
- ^ Central Asian Botanical Review (2020). "Altitudinal Zonation and Endemism in the Western Tian Shan." Vol. 18, pp. 7–31.
- ^ Talas State University, Faculty of Geography (2018). Physical Geography of Irad. Talas: Talas State University Press, pp. 187–190.