PRELIMINARY REPORT

ON BOTANICAL WORK IN AKMOLA OBLAST

in 1912 and 1913.

(Materials on the flora of the Kirghiz steppes.)

I.

From the history of botanical investigations.

Akmola Oblast, despite its immediate proximity to European Russia and its relative closeness to its intellectual centers, has until now been very poorly studied from the standpoint of natural history. And yet its enormous territory of half a million square versts, cutting across the Kirghiz steppe in a belt 500–600 versts wide from 55° to 45° north latitude, adjoining the Siberian taiga in the north and passing in the south into the deserts of Turkestan, ought to be of no small interest for such study. But the desert character of the oblast and its unfavorable position between the two historic roads from European Russia to Siberia and Turkestan, until the most recent time, led to the result that both settlers and scientific investigators, seeking to make use for their own purposes of the rich regions of Asiatic Russia—the Altai, the Amur, and the foothill regions of Turkestan—did not long linger in the poor steppes of the nomads and hurried to pass through them as quickly as possible, as an obstacle on the way to their goal. Thus the Kirghiz steppes were bypassed, or only their margins were touched, by many investigators of Asiatic Russia of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries: Sievers, Gmelin, Pallas, Ledebour, Bunge, Karelin, Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky, and a whole series of later ones.

Akmola Oblast, with the exception of its extreme north, saw not a single naturalist during the eighteenth century. Only in 1816 did P. I. Shangin, a participant in one expedition into the Kirghiz steppe, give the first scanty information about its vegetation¹ and thereby modestly

¹ Sibirskii Vestnik, 1820, nos. 9–11, extracts from Shangin’s diary, compiled by Mr. Spasskii.

V. F. Semyonov.—Preliminary Report.

begins the history of the study of the flora of Akmola Oblast. A serious foundation for this study was laid by the botanist A. I. Schrenk, who in 1840–1844 made four major journeys through Russia’s then Central Asian possessions. Of these, the journey of 1842, for the greater part, concerned the region of present-day Akmola Oblast: from May through September inclusive Schrenk traveled from Petropavlovsk through Kokchetav and Atbasar to the Ulutau Mountains, whence he descended along the lower reaches of the river Sarysu to the river Chu—the present southern boundary of the oblast; having gone upstream along the river Chu to the foothills of present-day Semipalatinsk Oblast, Schrenk returned again almost to its mouth (to Lake Beger-kul), whence, in a northeasterly direction, he crossed the Hungry Steppe and emerged from the foothills of Akmola Oblast in the direction of Karkaralinsk. This journey, as is evident from the work of Trautvetter¹, who identified Schrenk’s plants, gave indications of almost 550 species of plants inhabiting the central and, chiefly, the southern part of the oblast, where Schrenk spent a large part of the summer and autumn.

The further study of the flora of Akmola Oblast, resumed after Schrenk a quarter of a century later, was concentrated in its northern part, chiefly around the cultural center of the steppe region, Omsk, and was carried out at first mainly by local scientific forces. In 1878 I. Ya. Slovtsov, an instructor at the Omsk Military Gymnasium (now the Cadet Corps), made a series of varied natural-historical observations and collections during his journey from Omsk through Petropavlovsk to the Kokchetav Mountains. The herbarium brought back from this journey contained 451 species and was likewise processed by Trautvetter².

In the same 1870s there began (Beckmann), and later continued, a detailed study of the flora of the environs of Omsk and of the entire northeastern corner of Akmola Oblast.

Here worked Killoman, Golde, the lake expedition of L. Berg and P. Ignatov, and especially M. M. Siazev, who in his critical work Postgoldeana³ gave a complete list of the plants of the Omsk flora, combining in it the work of his predecessors and his own personal many-year observations and collections.

In other parts of the north of Akmola Oblast there were not many botanical investigations during that same period, and they are connected with the more numerous works of recent decades in its middle part, reaching as far as the Aral–Irtysh watershed. During this time M. Sizov gives a series of small sketches on the flora of the environs of Petropavlovsk, Akmolinsk, and Atbasar, the eastern part of Omsk Uyezd, the Seleta River, and other places¹.

A large part of the botanical work of the most recent period was carried out in connection with the survey of the region as a new area for colonization. Thus, descriptions of the vegetation are found in the works of Shcherbina’s expedition, which in the 1890s investigated the economic condition of the settled and nomadic population of the Kirghiz steppes (for example, A. Sedelnikov in the basin of the Nura River). In connection with the work of Shcherbina’s expedition stands the most substantial, and to this day the only work broad in its generalizations, by Prof. A. Gordyagin—“Materials for the Knowledge of the Soils and Vegetation of Western Siberia”². In the part concerning Akmola Oblast, the author sets forth his observations made during journeys through the oblast in 1896 and 1897. In the first of these years he investigated the Petropavlovsk—Kokchetav—Borovoe region, and in the second he traveled into the interior of the oblast from Petropavlovsk through the Shchuchinskaya stanitsa to the town of Akmolinsk, whence he made excursions along the Ishim River, to the Eremen-tau Mountains, and to the lower reaches of the Nura River; then he traveled by the postal road to Atbasar, from there southward to the Ulytau Mountains, and back through Atbasar and Kokchetav to Petropavlovsk. In the breadth of the region covered, A. Gordyagin’s investigations stand alongside Shrenk’s investigations.

Finally, in the very most recent years the study of the vegetation of the northern and central part of Akmola Oblast has advanced considerably thanks to the work of a whole series of soil-botanical expeditions of the Resettlement Administration. Although the aims of these expeditions were utilitarian in character, and in choosing the areas of investigation the department was not guided by a plan for the systematic study of the vegetation cover of the entire area of the oblast, nevertheless, in their detail, versatility, and close connection with soil investigations, these works provide very valuable material for knowledge of the flora of the oblast. Up to the present time the results of the work of V. F. Kapelkin in the middle part of Atbasar Uyezd between Lake Dengiz and the Ters-Akkan River (1908), V. I. Smirnov in the basin of the Sarysu and

Kon, Akmolinsk District (also in 1908), F. E. Zieliński in the southwestern part of Petropavlovsk District (1909), and he again in the middle part of Atbasar District (1910).

Such, in brief outline, is the history of the study of the vegetation of Akmola Oblast. If one plots on a map the routes of the individual botanists—routes which in most cases coincide with postal and caravan roads—and marks the areas examined in detail by others, we see that in the northern and central part of the oblast, where almost all these marks and routes are concentrated, there still remains more than \(3/4\) of the territory untouched by botanical investigations. As for the southern part of the oblast, lying between the Sarysu River and the Ulutau Mountains on one side and the Chu River on the other (about 150 thousand square versts), all botanico-geographical information about it is drawn only from the above-mentioned work of Trautvetter on the plants of Schrenk and from a small list of plants brought from the Chu River in 1889 by Mr. Stepanov¹. The incompleteness of this information is aggravated further by the circumstance that both Schrenk and Stepanov made their collections at the end of summer, when a considerable part of the vegetation of these desert localities has already perished from the summer heat and escapes the observer.

Owing to this uneven distribution of botanical work, and in many places to its complete absence, our present conception of the vegetation cover of Akmola Oblast is far from complete and integral. Indeed, even its species composition cannot yet be considered satisfactorily clarified, since every new investigation enriches the list of Akmola plants by almost dozens of species new for this oblast. As for other aspects of the life of the Akmola flora and, in particular, the many questions of geobotany (the limits of distribution of individual species, the composition of plant communities typical for the oblast, the historical replacement of the cover, etc.), these have either not been touched upon at all, or have only been outlined and still await their investigators and interpreters. Under such conditions, any botanical work, in many places in the north of Akmola Oblast and anywhere in its south, will provide valuable material for elucidating such questions and for supplementing our knowledge of the flora of this oblast.

II.

The Trip of 1912.

My first acquaintance with the flora of Akmola Oblast and my first collections in it date to 1909 and took place in the settlement of Borovoe, Kokchetav Uezd, where I was then obliged to spend a month and a half of the dacha season. The processing of the herbarium from the environs of Borovoe led me to acquaint myself with the history of the study of the region’s nature and aroused in me the desire to contribute, as far as possible, to the accumulation of material for the knowledge of its flora. With a sympathetic attitude toward my plans in this direction on the part of the Council of Professors of the Tomsk Technological Institute, I succeeded in making two major trips through Akmola Oblast in 1912 and 1913.

The trip of 1912 was devoted to the northern part of the oblast. As the aim of the work for that summer I set, first, the collection of herbarium material, as the chief means for a detailed study of the vegetation of the region by means of careful processing of the collections, and, second, the collection of information on various questions of plant life, as well as the study of the conditions of that life by investigating the soil, the temperature of the air and of the surface of the earth, the winds, etc.

I began my work that summer with excursions in the environs of Omsk for the purpose of surveying and collecting the spring vegetation typical of the birch groves and steppe meadows in the northern part of the oblast. The first excursion, on 16 May, had, in addition, the aim of practical acquaintance with the method of field work of the well-known investigator of the Siberian flora, P. N. Krylov, who was in Omsk at that time and kindly agreed to take part personally in this excursion. From Omsk itself, from 22 to 26 May inclusive, the first significant excursion was made through Omsk Uezd in a southwesterly direction from the city. The route of this trip passed through the settlements of Sosnovka, Privalnoe, Aleksandrovskoe, Ekaterinoslavka (Uzun-kul), Antonovka, Slavyanka, Maksimovka, Borisovka, Popovka, and Omsk, in all about 200 versts.

The excursions in the environs of Omsk and the trip through Omsk Uezd yielded material for characterizing the spring flora of the so-called “forest-steppe.” In addition, in the southern part of the route through the uezd, observations were made on the shifting of the southern boundary of the forest. Later that summer similar observations were also made by me in other places of Petropavlovsk Uezd (along the postal road Petropavlovsk—Kokchetav, and to the north of Lake Chagly), and in the summer of 1913 again in Omsk Uezd, in its western part near Lake ...

Kachi-karoy. The question of the shifting of the forest-steppe boundary has more than once been discussed in the specialized literature, and by many authors it is decided in the sense that this boundary is retreating northward, chiefly under the influence of the destruction of the forest by man. My observations also speak in favor of such a solution of the question, as do the accounts of local old-timers: at the present time, when in the last decade alone the settled population of the steppes has more than doubled, the facts of the destruction of the forest by axe and fire have become all too obvious and numerous. The intensified colonization of the steppes and the growth in them of industrial enterprises requiring fuel place the fact of the northward movement of the southern boundary of the birch groves in connection with a very large economic question of contemporary steppe life—with the question of protecting forests and of afforesting new areas. The Forestry Department is taking various measures in this direction, especially for the protection of forests both in the forest-steppe belt and in the region of the pine-birch plantations of the Ishim-Irtysh watershed, but the forests are inexorably melting away: in the state dachas the allotment of timber is increasing, the number of unauthorized fellings and forest fires is increasing ^1), and in the forests of peasant allotments everything is often cut down to the very last tree. Settlement of the steppes may contribute to their impoverishment in forests in yet another, indirect way: the cutting of forests, mowing, and plowing of the steppes lead to the exposure and intensified drying of the upper layers of the soil and to its inevitable salinization, since the parent rocks underlying the soil are rich in soluble salts, which are brought to the surface of the soil by ground waters. Very vivid facts of such a phenomenon have been indicated by P. N. Krylov ^2) in the steppe part of Tomsk Province adjacent to Akmola Oblast. If, moreover, one accepts, together with some geologists ^3), that in the climate of Central Asia there is a general secular decrease in humidity, as evidenced by the retreat of the glaciers of the marginal mountains and the drying up and disappearance of rivers and lakes, of which there are many examples in Akmola Oblast as well, then only bleak prospects can be foreseen for the forest plantations of the steppes.

From Omsk, through Petropavlovsk, I arrived by June 1 at the village of Borovoe, Kokchetav Uyezd, which became the starting point for my further work in 1912.

^1) “From the state forests of Akmola and Semipalatinsk Oblasts,” issue 1, pp. 70–72.
^2) P. N. Krylov. Vegetation in the Baraba Steppe and in the areas adjacent to it, p. 77. (Preliminary report on botanical investigations, 1912.)
^3) Mushketov. Turkestan.

Borovoe and its environs, in the intervals between three large journeys through the north of Akmola Oblast in that summer, and also in the summer of 1909 and during a brief stay there in 1913, were examined by me in greater or lesser detail. In addition to repeated excursions in the immediate environs of Borovoe, I visited the Akyl-bai valley, Mount Sinyukha, the streams Emanai and Sary-bulak, Lake Karasye with the moss bogs near it—hitherto not noted in the botanical literature (the reference by A. Gordyagin in “Materials for the Knowledge of the Soils and Vegetation of Western Siberia,” p. 300, to a peat bog near Lake Chortan-kulya, I find it difficult, because of its indefiniteness, to identify with the bogs I visited at Lake Karasye itself)—the hilly and steppe locality between Borovoe and the village of Tupolevka, the pine forest near Shchuchinskaya station, and many other places. Together with a few other points where the soil rises sharply within the limits of Kokchetav Uyezd, the Borovoe group of mountains (Kokchetau) deserves the most attentive study from the floristic point of view. Here, with the diversity of relief and irrigation, there is also the most varied vegetation, which in my collections of 1909 and 1912 yielded more than half of all 600 species in the herbarium. Here also, in the remote corners of the pine forests, I collected representatives of the northern forest flora: Vaccinium Vitis idaea L., Vaccinium oxycoccos L., four species of Pyrola, Chimaphila umbellata N., Linnaea borealis Gr., Drosera rotundifolia L., Goodyera repens R. Br., Carex canescens L., C. vaginata Taush., C. diandra Sch., and others, separated from the present-day area of their distribution by extensive steppes. Similar finds in other mountain-forest groups of Kokchetav Uyezd as well (for example, Drosera and bilberry, Vaccinium Myrtillus L., in the Sandyk-tau mountains), and the existence here of typical taiga communities in the form of sphagnum bogs or “ryams,” as the local inhabitants call the above-mentioned bogs near Lake Karasye, lend profound interest to the detailed study of this vegetational archipelago, torn away, perhaps, by a sea of steppes from the modern Siberian taiga. The interest is intensified by the finding here of rare plants, such as one endemic currant, Ribes diacantha Pall., and also by the existence of literary and even herbarium records, urgently in need of confirmation, concerning the growth in this region of such deep-forest forms as Asarum europaeum L. (reported by Shangin in 1816), Cassandra calyculata Don., Calluna vulgaris Sal., Ledum palustre L. (the last three in the herbarium of the Museum of the West-Siberian Department of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society in Omsk), and oak¹.

In general, it must be noted that the richly endowed, picturesque mountainous part of Kokchetav Uezd, which has been settled for almost a century, has hitherto, to a considerable degree, shared the general fate of Akmola Oblast as a terra incognita. Of the three or four botanical works known to me that relate to this region, one is very brief (M. Siyazov, “List of Plants from the Vicinity of the Kokchetav Lakes”); others were compiled by non-specialists in botany, and only the works of Prof. A. Gordyagin (“Materials,” etc.; see p. 5, “On the Kokchetav Forests,” in book XXII of the Proceedings of the West-Siberian Department of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society) constitute a welcome exception.

From Borovoe, over the course of the summer, three large excursions were made through the northern half of Akmola Oblast, directed, as far as possible, into regions not hitherto visited by botanists.

The first trip was a northern one, from 5 to 16 June; during this time more than 400 versts were covered along the following route: Borovoe, Dorofeevka, Kokchetav, the village of Alekseevskoe (Azat), along the Chaglinka River to the village of Staro-Sukhotinskoe, along the western shore of Lake Chagly, the village of Novorossiiskoe, northward from Novorossiiskoe to the beginning of the birch groves; from there back south along the summer caravan road Petropavlovsk—Akmolinsk, past Lake Tainchinskoe, across the Bel-agach River, past Lake Ku-kamys to Borovoe. The purpose of this trip was to examine the steppes of Kokchetav and Petropavlovsk Uezds in the first half of summer, when the vegetation of the northern half of the oblast is still in the flowering period of its development. In addition, during this trip, observations were made in the area of the village of Novorossiiskoe on the northern margin of the steppe at the place where it comes into contact with the forest-steppe.

The second trip covered the eastern half of Kokchetav Uezd and the northern part of Akmolinsk Uezd. It lasted more than two weeks, from 24 June to 8 July, during which more than 600 versts were covered along the following route: Borovoe, Koturkul station, Lake Dzhukei, the Kozhegul-bulak locality, Lake Atan-sor, Lake Tasty-kul, the Krykt-kuduk locality, the upper reaches of the Bogombai River, the “Chernyi Klyuch” and “Shingarevy Borki” forest dachas, Lake Chandak, the village of Neldybaevskoe on the Selety River, the caravan road to the town of Akmolinsk; from Akmolinsk back along the postal road through the villages of Kankrinskoe and Alekseevskoe to the village of Nikolskoe, from there northwest to the upper reaches of the Tasty-uzek stream, then to the Kairakty-kaluton River and through the settlements of Prokhorovskoe and Chernoyarskoe to Shchuchinskaya station and Borovoe. The first half of this route passed through the most desert-like part of northern Akmola Oblast. Collections here consisted chiefly of typical steppe plants. The banks of the Selety River yielded a rich collection. Here, among other things, Salvia sylvestris L. was collected.

The third trip from Borovoe was westward. It took 10 days, during which more than 400 versts were covered through Shchuchinskaya station, the village of Novo-Andreevskoe, along the outskirts of the Dzhaksy-Tyukty mountains, across the Sandyktau mountains, the village of Balkashinskoe, Mikhailovskoe, Atkan-Burlukskaya station, the villages of Sokol O Gorskoe, Konstantinovskoe, Aryk-Balykskaya stanitsa, Imantavskaya and Zerendinskaya, Lake Dzhaman-Tuz, and through the village of Dorofeevskoe to Borovoe. This trip considerably enriched my collections with plant species rare for the northern half of the oblast: Lonicera tatarica L., Prunus nana St. (wild peach), Drosera rotundifolia L., Vaccinium Myrtillus L., and others. The last two plants were taken in the Sandyktau mountains near the village of Balkashinskoe; moreover, for the bilberry—Vaccinium Myrtillus L.—the Sandyktau mountains are the only locality in Akmola Oblast. The western trip encompassed groups of the Sandyktau and Imantau mountains interesting in the composition of their vegetation, deserving no less careful study than the Borovoe group. In the Imantau mountains, for example, the occurrence is reported of plants so little probable for the steppe region as Asarum europaeum L., and in earlier times even of oak (see above). Unfortunately, lack of funds and time did not allow me to dwell in greater detail on the examination of these interesting places.

Having returned from the third trip to Borovoe and having finished putting the last collections in order, on August 4 I left Borovoe for Omsk, where over the course of a week I made several excursions in the immediate environs of the city and examined the herbarium of the museum of the West-Siberian Department of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society.

III.

Trip of 1913.

My botanical work in the summer of 1913 was a direct continuation of the work of the preceding years. The aims of the trip and the program of work remained the same, i.e. the collection of herbarium material, the compilation of lists of plants with indication of localities, habitats, and stages of development, observation of the factors in the life of plants, the gathering of various other information about them, and so forth. The trip was directed to the middle and partly to the southern third of the oblast, where chestnut-steppe and desert-steppe vegetation predominates, with a complete absence of forests. The area examined in this year adjoins to the north and partly coincides with the area of work in 1912, where the predominant type of vegetation cover is chernozem and chernozem-chestnut steppe with

with considerable forest stands in the form of birch groves in the northern part of the oblast and pine forests along the Ishim–Irtysh watershed.

In view of the slight familiarity of the places I visited on this last journey, I shall dwell on the description of the route in somewhat greater detail than was done in the report on the journey of 1912.

On May 16 I left Omsk by steamer for Pavlodar and then by the postal road to the Bayanaul station, whence I proceeded by a direct steppe road westward to the Erementau Mountains. The crossing of 200 versts to the boundary of Akmola Oblast on the Ulenty River went through the western part of Pavlodar Uezd of Semipalatinsk Oblast. This latter area did not enter into the scope of my investigations; the rapid passage through it and the cold, inclement weather were not favorable to work; nevertheless, within its limits more than a dozen collections were made for characterizing the vegetation of the steppes and mountains. To the mountains in the environs of Bayanaul I devoted almost two days, vainly searching for one of the rare relict plants of the Kirghiz territory, Amelanchier asiatica W., found here only once, in 1906, by S. Tulaikov. ^1)

Observations on the vegetation of Akmola Oblast began already during the steamer passage from Omsk to the boundary of Semipalatinsk Oblast, but of necessity they were very scanty and were confined only to the trees and shrubs of the banks and islands of the Irtysh: it was mid-May, the flood season; the islands were inundated, with snow still lying under the bluffs in many places; willows and bird cherry were in bloom on the islands, and Populus alba L. (near Pokrovskaya stanitsa) and Populus tremula L. along the banks. In full measure I began my summer work on the Ulenty River, on the boundary between the oblasts, near the village of Karatal, Akmola Uezd. Here, owing to the great lateness of spring and the considerable elevation of the locality, at the end of May I found spring vegetation: on the islands Salix triandra L., Salix Ledebouriana Trautv., currant, bird cherry, Lonicera tatarica L., Cotoneaster vulgaris Lindl. were in bloom; on the bank slopes, near enormous masses of snow still remaining, Pulsatilla patens Mill., Adonis villosa Ledb., and rare specimens of Gagea pusilla Schult., hitherto not indicated by anyone for Akmola Oblast, were flowering in great abundance. Only on the sunny slopes of the high and in places rocky left bank did the vegetation of the river valley, and the steppe plants that had penetrated down to it from above, experience a later period. Among other things, large thickets of juniper, Juniperus Sabina L., were found here already with half-ripe fruits.

^1) D. I. Litvinov. Amelanchier in Semipalatinsk Oblast. (Proceedings of the Botanical Museum of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, VIII, 1910).

Beyond the Uleny River begin the low Eremen-tau Mountains, which are of considerable botanical interest, as are the other mountain groups of Akmola Oblast—the Ulutau and Kokchetav Mountains. In them, alongside the predominant steppe vegetation, birch woods have survived, and in a few places alder—Alnus glutinosa (L.) Gärt.

Having devoted two days to work on the southeastern outskirts of the Eremen Mountains and to a trip to the alder groves along the Karachat River, I set out for Akmolinsk, skirting the mountains from the south and making observations on the vegetation of the solonetzic steppes in the upper reaches of the Ishim River.

The four days spent in Akmolinsk passed in preparations for a journey to the desert south of the oblast. I knew of the difficulties of travel there from the literature (Yu. Schmidt, “An Essay on the Kirghiz Steppe South of the Aral-Irtysh Watershed, in Akmola Oblast”; L. Cherman, “A Route through the Hungry Steppe,” in Zapiski Zap. Sib. Otd. I. R. Geogr. Obshch., book XXVII; Rossiya, ed. by Devrien, vol. XVIII—The Kirghiz Territory, pp. 360–365), and therefore with great caution included in the itinerary the Hungry Steppe by the Chu River. In Akmolinsk, after conversations with people who had been in the south of the oblast, especially after learning about the 1912 journey on the Chu River by the head of Akmolinsk Uyezd, N. P. Ivanov, who personally told me the conditions and details of the difficult crossing of the desert even in the month of May, I had to abandon the idea of penetrating, during the coming summer months, into the depths of the Hungry Steppe.

During my stay in Akmolinsk I inspected the steppe adjoining the town and visited the Chubar birch forest, located 10–14 versts east of the town. This forest is the southernmost birch grove of the lowland part of Akmola Oblast. Farther south, birch is now found only in two places—in Ulutau and at the Kara-agach locality, and, according to the accounts of the Kirghiz, in very small numbers in the Ak-tau Mountains south of the Sarysu River.

On June 2 I left Akmolinsk southward, beyond the Ishim River. A short journey of 35 versts to the Nura River ran through an even fescue-feather-grass steppe, rising imperceptibly toward the Nura into a hilly, clearly expressed watershed here. The hilly character of the terrain prevailed throughout my further route across the entire basin of the upper Nura, and also in the upper reaches of the Sarysu River.

In the region of the Nura River, over the course of ten days, the following route was completed: from the village of Rozhdestvenskoye (35 versts from Akmolinsk) southward along the right bank of the middle course of the Nura to the village of Zakharovskoye, then eastward to the village of Bolshe-Mikhailovskoye near the Karaganda mines—

of coal mines, whence southward through the Spassky copper-smelting plant and across the low watershed of the Nura and Sarysu rivers to the Uspensky mine. This entire journey of 450 versts passed, in its first half, through new Russian settlements, and in the second through the Zavodsk district, and therefore presented no road difficulties, with the exception of 2–3 difficult crossings over rivers.

The vegetation in this district is predominantly feather-grass–Stipa capillata, passing in many places into the sparse and stunted vegetation of stony hills and solonetz soils. The light soils of the steppe throughout the Nura contain a considerable quantity of sand, which in dry weather, and especially on ploughed fields, becomes easy prey for the wind, which at times completely covers the crops with sand—a phenomenon I had occasion to observe near the village of Kievskoe on the Nura River. In the composition of the vegetation here, new plants begin to appear, plants no longer characteristic of the more northern steppes: the low thorny Rosa berberifolia Pall., the almost leafless Dodartia orientalis L., the beautiful prickly Convolvulus fruticosus Pall., Cirsium igniarum Spr., Onosma echioides L.; in lowered clayey-solonetz places appear Eremurus altaicus Stev., Sophora alopecuroides L., Tamarix laxa Will.; in the shrub vegetation of the hilly steppe, together with Spiraea hypericifolia Lam. and Spiraea crenifolia C. A. Mey., Caragana frutex (L.) C. Koch appears ever more frequently and abundantly, often in large thickets. Near the Spassky plant and the Uspensky mine, Patrinia intermedia R. et Sch. was found for the first time for Akmola Oblast.

In contrast to the sparse and rather monotonous herbaceous vegetation of the steppes, here the vegetation of the river valleys—rich in species—reaches considerable development, representing almost everywhere an unstable mixture of steppe plants with moisture-loving species. Whereas on the steppe near the bank of the Nura one can collect scarcely about 20 plants, on the sandy-gravelly bed of the river a collection yields up to 70–80 species.

The Uspensky mine (Nelda) is the southernmost settled point of Akmola Oblast, having arisen within the limits of the semi-desert on rich deposits of copper ore. There is no agricultural cultivation here, not even kitchen gardening: the stony, scorched southern slope of the Nelda Mountains, where the mine is situated; the lifeless, solonetz-like broad valley southward to the Dzhaman-Tagaly Mountains; the absence of sufficient irrigation—these are the conditions under which the stunted vegetation of the mine’s surroundings lives. Only in the mountain valleys does it revive, become more varied, and, in accordance with its southern location (48°–49° N. lat.), have in its composition

species rare for Akmolinsk Oblast, such as Bromus squarrosus L., Veronica biloba L., Patrinia intermedia R. et Sch., Nephelochloa soongarica Bois., Geranium divaricatum Ehrh., Libanotis buchtormensis D. C., Ranunculus platyspermus Fisch., and others.

The next part of my route, from the Uspensk mine until my return to the Nura River, lay in the basin of the Sarysu River and was the most difficult to carry out and the most interesting from the botanical point of view. The travel conditions along the Sarysu changed fundamentally for the worse. There is no settled population here, and therefore there are no cart roads or horses accustomed to harness. One must travel either in a carriage, with constant risk and accidents from galloping across the steppe on unbroken horses, or on horseback, slowly, over burning sands and solonetz soils, under the scorching rays of the sun at the 48th parallel. By the first means I traveled about 500 versts, by the second 200.

From the Uspensk mine I headed westward down the course of the Sarysu River, keeping to its banks, near which the Kirghiz were then grouped. West of Mount Kop-mola it was necessary to turn away from the Sarysu to the north, toward the Dzhaman-adyr Mountains, where by mid-June the Kirghiz had migrated. Through the mountains I reached the caravan road from Akmolinsk to Turkestan (Kara-dzhol), and along it again came out to the Sarysu River, down which I descended to the Togusken locality, near the place where its right tributary, the Sortu-su, flows into the Sarysu.

From the Togusken locality an excursion was made southward beyond the Sarysu River to the northern edge of the Hungry Steppe, as the entire area between the Sarysu and Chu rivers is called here. The carriage was left in the aul, since on the way there lay long passages through sands, the investigation of which constituted the chief purpose of the excursion; riding horses, a camel for the baggage, and a guide were hired, and on June 17 we set out from the Sarysu to the south. In the course of a week we covered more than 200 versts. It is impossible to indicate the detailed route of this journey on any of the existing maps, since we went by a road quite unusual here, proceeding from aul to aul, from locality to locality, from one well to another, none of which are marked on any maps. In general, our road at first went south to Lake Boz-gul, then, near the above-mentioned Kara-dzhol road, through the sands to Lake Kara-kul, south of which we turned away from the caravan road to the east, into the Kum-dzheylau sands, and came out at the Kyzyl-espe locality; from there we went westward to the Sarysu River, which we reached near the place where the Taldy-sai River flows into it; after staying here for twenty-four hours, we proceeded farther, now to the northeast.

along the banks of the Sarysu, and exactly a week later we returned to the Toguskent tract. The excursion beyond the Sarysu River gave me a clear idea of the hardships of travel through the Hungry Steppe in the middle of summer. In the part of the steppe that I visited there were still auls, and consequently also the meager means of subsistence—brackish water from dirty wells, meager fodder for the livestock, and unpretentious food for people in the auls of poor Kirghiz (the well-to-do population had moved ahead to better places north of the Sarysu). The difficulty of travel and work here depended chiefly on the intense heat: during the day the temperature remained all the time around 30–35° C in the open air; in the yurts, where one could find the only shade in the whole steppe, so necessary after a long ride on horseback under the sun, the temperature stood 1–2° higher than outside; the surface of the soil heated up to 50° and even to 65° C, which made excursions over the sandy hills extremely burdensome. The vegetation, burnt out and finally poisoned by the masses of Kirghiz livestock that had passed through since spring, yielded poor collections. Farther south the situation was worse in every respect: the steppe became more desert-like, more waterless; the Kirghiz refused to travel into the Betpak-Dala, terrible to them (which some translate as “accursed steppe”). It is therefore understandable that all crossings known to me from the literature and from personal accounts through the desert between the Sarysu and Chu rivers were made either in early spring, when there is water there from the melted snow and the vegetation has not yet burned out, or in late autumn, when the heat subsides, the plants recover somewhat, and the first snows provide drinking water.

The valley of the Sarysu River within the limits of Akmola District is an extensive hilly steppe, gradually lowering and leveling out toward the banks of the river. Its hilliness increases with distance from the banks and passes into a series of low, isolated mountain groups. In a few places the hills come right up to the river itself and expose here the rocks of which they are composed.

The sandy bed of the river and its banks are entirely devoid of shrubby vegetation, desert-like, bare; only closer to the border of Akmola District does the river form a series of reaches with a slow current, and the banks of these reaches are densely overgrown with reed—Phragmites communis Trin. Along the banks of the river there runs, in a narrow strip, in places 1–2 versts wide, the lowest part of the steppe, with light-gray loamy and sandy-loam soil¹. Its effervescence horizon is at a considerable

depths (down to 60 cm.) in the eastern part rises to the ancient surface in the western part, which is in some correspondence with the gradually increasing salinity of the water of the Sarysu River as one moves from its upper reaches to its mouth.

The vegetation cover of the riparian part of the steppe is sparse, covers about 0.5 of the entire surface, and has been trampled down to the utmost degree by livestock. Among the widespread steppe species, plants characteristic only of the south of the oblast appear here: Glycyrrhiza asperrima L., Convolvulus lineatus L., Herniaria odorata Andrz., Eurotia ceratoides C. A. Mey., Tauscheria lasiocarpa Fisch., Eversmannia subspinosa F.; in more sandy places Euphorbia Gerardiana Jacq. and Jurinea cyanoides D. C. are not rare here. A typical feature of the vegetation cover of this part of the Sarysu valley is the thickets of chii and sophora. Chii—Lasiagrostis splendens Kunth.—occupies almost continuously the very lowest part of the valley, in many places representing a river terrace of recent origin, with groundwater at a depth of 1–1½ arshins. Sophora—Sophora alopecuroides L.—adjoins the chii along the margins of its thickets, where the soil rises, and often surrounds them or borders them only on one elevated side with continuous thickets of its gray, densely foliated shrubs 20–30 cm. high. With a further rise of the terrain, thickets of sophora are also encountered without chii.

Here too, in the riparian part of the steppe, chiefly along the left bank of the Sarysu, are situated Kirghiz arable fields, irrigated by means of aryks drawn from the river. They sow wheat, barley, and millet. The area under crops has recently greatly decreased: everywhere I saw abandoned arable fields and aryks, and only in one place did I encounter 2–3 desyatinas of young shoots. The Kirghiz explain the reduction in sowing by the fact that the soil has become exhausted and gives poor harvests. But it seems that a not unimportant cause of this phenomenon must be considered the intensified colonization of the Akmola steppe: it has considerably reduced the area of nomad encampments, increased the population density upon them, and made it difficult to protect crops from the masses of livestock crowding in; the proximity of Russian settlements to the nomad encampments gives the Kirghiz the opportunity to stock up on cheap bread and not to be especially concerned about the decline of their own agriculture.

Between the chii-sophora thickets of the bottom of the Sarysu valley and its hilly margins lies, on both sides of the river, a sandy zone of steppe composed of fixed clayey sands, sometimes extending for tens of versts into the side valleys, for example along the Sortu-su River and along the valley leading to the Kara-agach tract. The dominant plant on these

on the sands is the spurge Euphorbia Gerardiana Jacq.; its bushes, made up of dozens of branches 1 arshin high, are scattered 1–2 arshins apart and from a distance completely conceal the sand of the steppe, giving it (in June) the appearance of a greenish-yellow sea, from which dark-green and reddish masses of hills and mountains rise in the distance.

Above the sandy-spurge zone there extends a hilly steppe with its usual, rather varied vegetation, which here differs very noticeably from the coastal chia steppe by the abundance of wormwoods (Artemisia maritima L., A. austriaca Jacq., A. campestris L.), grasses (Festuca ovina L., Koeleria gracilis Pers., Stipa pennata L., Stipa Lessingiana Trin., etc.), and the appearance of shrubs (Spiraea hypericifolia Lam., Rosa berberifolia Pall., Astragalus Arbuscula Pall., Atraphaxis lanceolata Meisn., Ephedra vulgaris Rich., etc.).

The desert steppe to the south of the Sarysu River, along the greater part of the route that I traversed through it, represented a clayey and stony-clayey, slightly hilly locality raised above the river terrace, with solonetzes or chii in the depressions, where auls stood by the wells. The vegetation was everywhere sparse (0.1–0.3 of the entire surface), scanty, a few vershoks high: now with a predominance of fescue (Festuca ovina L.) and sparse feather grass, now purely wormwood with low and sparse little bushes of Artemisia maritima L.; now with kökpek thickets on dense clayey soil, where, together with kökpek (Atriplex canum C. A. M.), there clustered Aeluropus littoralis Parl., Camphorosma monspeliacum L., Frankenia hispida D. C., Statice suffruticosa L., and a few others. The dreary monotony of these desert steppes was sometimes brightened by infrequent thickets of caragana (Caragana frutescens D. C.) and by strange woods of dry stems of a large umbellifer (Ferula soongarica Pall.?) and by rare finds, such as Megacarpaea laciniata D. C., Kirilowia eriantha, Rheum tataricum L., Alhagi camelorum Fisch., and others.

Another part of the route beyond the Sarysu River ran over sands from Lake Boz-gul through the Kum-dzheylau tract to the Kyzyl-espie tract. The sands are heaped into hills 3–4 sazhens high; in many places they are bare and are easily blown by the wind, which here raises a sandy blizzard, just as in the clayey-solonetzic steppe it raised white whirlwinds of solonetz dust. On the sands here too the spurge Euphorbia Gerardiana Jacq. predominated, among which there were occasionally found Atraphaxis pungens L. et Sp., Jurinea cyanoides D. C., Syrenia siliculosa Andrz., Kochia prostrata Schir., Bromus inermis Leys., Agropyrum sibiricum Eich.

To the north of the Sarysu River lies the low mountain-steppe watershed between it and the Nura River. I traversed it eastward between

the Spasskii plant and the Uspenskii mine, in the middle part upon returning from the Sarysu through the Kara-agach ravine, and was taken along the southern slope in the Dzhamant-adyr mountains. In relief and in the composition of its vegetation, the watershed presents the greatest diversity in the entire southern half of Akmola Oblast. The abundance of grasses and of good water makes it a very valuable place for the summer migrations of the Kirghiz, who come here from the desert steppes of the Sarysu River and even from the distant Chu River. The best places in terms of vegetation, having the character of steppe meadows, are not infrequently used as hayfields, for the sake of which even mowers have recently appeared here among the Kirghiz. In the varied plant cover of such meadows, feather grasses, Stipa capillata, and, in places, Medicago falcata L. and Galium verum L. predominate. In depressions and along the troughs of the northern slopes of the mountains lie larger thickets of the shrubs caragana and spiraea. Forest vegetation has survived here only in one place, namely in the Kara-agach ravine, widely known throughout the immense treeless south of the oblast. The Kara-agach forest is a group of birch copses occupying an area of several tens of square versts. The stands have the usual composition for the north of the oblast of tree and shrub species: birch, aspen, willows (Salix cinerea L., Salix pentandra L., Salix sibirica Pall.), black currant, and others. The birches, with trunks crooked from snow drifts, are being heavily cut by the Kirghiz. There is an indication¹ that alder grows here.

Having finished the work in the Sarysu basin and having descended from the watershed to the Nura River near the village of Zakharovskoe, I returned by the former road along the bank of the Nura, with a slight deviation eastward in one place, to the town of Akmolinsk. Here the extensive collections brought from the Sarysu River were put in order and sent to Tomsk.

From Akmolinsk I set out by the postal road through Atbasar to the Kokchetav mountain district, in order once more to examine some of its localities and to gather material on disputed questions concerning the existence there of certain plants not characteristic of Akmola Oblast. For this purpose I made stops at the Sandyktauskaya stanitsa and at Borovoe, and undertook an excursion into the Maraldy and Karacha-tau mountains. During the fruitless search for Ledum palustre and other northern plants, new material was collected on the distribution of such rare plants as bilberry and cranberry, and new for the oblast were found Equisetum scirpoides Mich., Carex canescens L.

¹ “Russia,” ed. by Devrien, vol. XVIII, p. 364.

The summer work of 1913 was concluded by traveling from Borovoe to Omsk (300 versts) by a direct steppe road, instead of the postal route to Petropavlovsk that had been planned in the project. The chosen direction presented certain difficulties for travel, since here, for the first 150 versts, the route ran through uninhabited steppe; but this direction yielded new material on the flora of the region, since for the greater part it passed through terrain entirely unexplored botanically. Here considerable material was collected in the area of Lakes Ala-bota and Kichi-karoi, a number of observations were made on the southern boundary of the forest-steppe, and once again much evidence was gathered concerning the rapid retreat of this boundary northward.

IV.

In addition to the preliminary report here presented, I shall give a few data to characterize, from the external side, the results of my two geobotanical journeys through Akmola Oblast.

Given the modesty of the funds at my disposal, I could not take assistants with me or hire workers, and almost all the expedition work—collecting, drying and packing plants, examining the soil, meteorological observations, photography, keeping notes, and so forth—was carried out by me alone. Only soil sections and some household tasks during the journeys were assigned to a hired driver. Under such conditions, over the course of two years I traveled, within the area of work, by carriage and on horseback, about 5 thousand versts, of which more than half lay through places not previously visited by botanists. Along this route up to 300 private and field collections of plants were made; these collections yielded more than 6000 records of the localities of 740 different plants (species) and a herbarium of 5–6 thousand sheets. Seventy soil sections were made, and about 100 soil samples were taken. Up to 150 photographs were taken. Meteorological observations were conducted during the journey three times a day and concerned pressure, temperature, humidity, and air movement; in many places, especially in the southern parts of the route, the temperature of the soil and of the water in rivers and steppe wells was observed.

The identification of the collected plants was carried out in Tomsk with the closest participation of P. N. Krylov, to whom I consider it my duty to express my deep gratitude for this. The absence in Tomsk of sufficient means for the detailed processing of the herbarium made it necessary to send some plants (from the 1912 collections) to specialists in

Petersburg, but even with all this, in my herbarium there remain up to ten plants still awaiting final identification, and perhaps also description. Up to the present, 569 dicotyledons, 151 monocotyledons, 4 gymnosperms, and 18 cryptogams have been identified, for a total of 742 species. Comparing these figures with the data on the composition of the Akmola flora published in 1911 by M. M. Siyazov on the basis of literary sources¹, we find that my herbarium contains a further 109 dicotyledons, 14 monocotyledons, and 3 cryptogams. During my work on the flora of Akmola Oblast, I have collected literary and herbarium data on the occurrence in the oblast of about 1,300 species (M. Siyazov has 868); consequently, the incompleteness of my herbarium is considerably greater than indicated above. But even with such incompleteness, it contains quite a few plants for whose occurrence in Akmola Oblast I have so far found no indications in the two dozen botanical works on the flora of this oblast that I have thus far been able to use.

I append a list of these plants, new for Akmola Oblast, and of those rare among them that had previously been recorded only in one or two localities.

V. Semenov.

March 1914.
Tomsk.

LIST

of rare and new plants for Akmola Oblast from the herbarium collected by V. F. Semenov in 1909, 1912 and 1913. (Appendix to the preliminary report).¹

Ranunculaceae.

1. Adonis villosa Ledb.—A. wolgensis Stev. v. villosa Trautv.—
Vicinity of Omsk, chernozem steppe on the southern slope of a ridge, 16 May with unripe fruits; descent to the Ulenty River near the village of Karatal, Akmola district, 26 May, flowering; village of Dubovskoye on the Sokur River (a tributary of the Nura), low ground in dry stony steppe, 5 June, leaves; steppe along the southern margin of the Dzhaman-adyr mountains in the Aral-Irtysh watershed, 13 June, leaves.

Previously found by Schrenk between Omsk and Atbasar in May, flowering.

M. Sīazov in “Postgoldeana,” p. 3, doubts the occurrence of this plant near Omsk. My indication for the vicinity of Omsk is based on the determination by P. N. Krylov.

* 1. Ranunculus platyspermum Fisch.—
A little valley in the Nelda mountains near the Uspensky mine, Akmola district, 10 June, fruits.

In “Conspectus Florae Turkestanicae” O. A. and B. A. Fedchenko indicate this buttercup as occurring “throughout Turkestan”; I have not encountered in the literature any more precise indications of its occurrence in Akmola Oblast, which in “Consp. Fl. Turk.” is assigned to Turkestan.

¹ Among plants new for the oblast, marked in the list with an asterisk *, are included those for which I have found no references in the literature available to me; among rare ones—those for which there is one (for a few, two) indication. All Schrenk’s indications refer to 1842, Professor A. Ya. Gordyagin’s to 1896 and 1897. “Conspectus Florae Turkestanicae” by O. A. Fedchenko and B. A. Fedchenko is designated in the list in abbreviated form as “Consp. Fl. Turk.”

Cruciferae.

1. Cardamine pratensis L. (?)—Borovoe, Kokchetav uezd, damp wooded shore of the lake; collected 29 June 1909: basal leaves. The identification was made by P. N. Krylov with a question mark.

2. Meniocus linifolius D. C.—Spassky Zavod, Akmola u.: steppe, 8 June, fl. and fr.; picket on the Nura R. between Spassky Zavod and the Uspensky mine, dry ravine, 9 June, fl. and fr.

Schrenk found it on dry hills along the Tersakan R. in Atbasar u. in May, with fl. and fr.

* 5. Chorispora sibirica D. C.—Picket on the Nura R. between Spassky Zavod and the Uspensky mine, dry ravine, 9 June, fl. and fr.

The indication of this plant in the environs of Omsk was made on the basis of Kiloman’s find in the arable fields near the village of Chernolutskoe, Tobolsk Province (see Golde, “List of Vascular Plants,” in Botanical Notes, vol. II, issue 2, 1888).

1. Megacarpaea laciniata D. C.—Wormwood steppe between Kyzyl-Espe and the locality Tast-mola on the Sarysu R., 20 June, fr.

Schrenk indicates it in the Ulutau mountains and along the Dzhizdykintur R. in June and July with fr.

1. Euclidium syriacum (L.) R. Br.—On the bank of the Karymbai R. by Mount Tas-kara near the northern bank of the Sarysu R., 13 June, fr.; Sarysu R. near the mouth of the Syortu-su, river terrace with Chia, 17 June.

It is also indicated in Aktau according to Slovtsov’s herbarium.

1. Sisymbrium toxophylum (M. B.) C. A. Mey.—Steppe along the Ishim R., between the villages of Nikolaevskoe and Aleksandrovskoe, Akmola u., 28 May, fl. and unripe fr.

Schrenk found it in damp places along the Tersakan R., Atbasar u., in May, with fl. and fr.

1. Sisymbrium salsugineum Pall.—Valley of the Nura R. near the settlements of Chernigovskoe and Ivanovskoe, 3 June, fl. and fr.; steppe near Lake Sulu-kul to the south of the Nura R. along the Eskeneisky road, 27 June, fr.; Mount Konek between the Sarysu and Syortu-su rivers, 25 June, dry specimen.

Schrenk indicates it along the Ishim and Tersakan rivers in May, with fl. and fr.

1. Lepidium amplexicaule Willd.—Bed of a brook on the western shore of Lake Ala-bota, Kokchetav u., 13 July, fl.

It is also indicated by Golde on solonchak soil near Kurganskaya station (west of Omsk).

1. Goldbachia laevigata D. C.—Picket on the Nura River between the Spassky Plant and the Uspensky Mine, dry ravine with shrubbery, 9 June, in flower and fruit.

Schrenk found it along the Tersakan and Kara-Kingir rivers, Atbasar district, 10 June, with fruit.

1. Chorispora tenella D. C.—Picket on the Nura River between the Spassky Plant and the Uspensky Mine, dry ravine with shrubbery, 9 June, in flower and unripe fruit.

Schrenk—on the Tersakan River, 27 May, in flower and fruit.

1. Conringia planisiliqua Fisch.—Picket Dungurlek, 40 versts south of Akmolinsk, marsh, 30 June, fruit; village of Spasskoye on the Dzhabai River, vegetable garden, 4 July, fruit.

Found by the Lake Expedition in 1898 at a wintering place near Lake Kyzyl-kak, Omsk district.

Droseraceae.

1. Drosera rotundifolia L.—In the environs of Borovoye, Kokchetav district, in sphagnum bogs and along damp lowlands in mixed forest, at the end of June and beginning of July, in flower and fruit; Sandyktau Mountains near the village of Balkashinsky, Kokchetav district, along a brook in mixed forest, 26 July, in flower and fruit.

Near Borovoye, on a peat bog, it was also found by Prof. A. Ya. Gordyagin.

Sileneae.

* 15. Lychnis brachypetala Hornem.—Konek Mountain between the Sarysu and Sorty-su rivers, stony sunny slope, 25 June, fruit and dry flowers.

There are no other records.

* 16. Silene Gebleriana Sch. (?)—Wintering places along the Sarysu River near the mouth of the Sorty-su River, 23 June, buds.

There are no other records.

Alsineae.

1. Stellaria crassifolia Ehrh.—Borovoye, Kokchetav district, marshy lakeshore, 29 June 1909, in flower.

Previously recorded only for the environs of Omsk.

1. Cerastium falcatum Bunge.—Shrub thicket along the Ishim River near the village of Aleksandrovskoye, Akmolinsk district, 28 May, in flower; along ravines and banks of the Kok-uzek River near the Spassky Plant, 8 June, in flower.

Schrenk found it on the Kara-Kingir River. (For some reason Akmola Oblast is not indicated in “Conspectus Fl. Turk.” No. 719).

Geraniaceae.

1. Geranium divaricatum Ehrh.—A small valley in the Nelda Mountains near the Uspenskii mine, June 10, fr.

Akmola Oblast is also indicated in “Consp. Fl. Turk.” No. 795.

Papilionaceae.

1. Medicago platycarpa Ldb.—Alluvial sandy bank of the Sary-su River near the mouth of the Taldy-sai (Atbas. u.), June 21, fl. and unripe fr.

Trautvetter, on the basis of Slovtsov’s herbarium, indicates it between Akmolinsk and Aktau.

1. Medicago lupulina L.—Valley of the Dzhaksy-Sarysu River, 30 versts west of the Uspenskii mine, damp depression by the bank, June 12, fl.

Previously it had been indicated only in the environs of Omsk; quite recently—in the summer of 1913—M. Siazov found it near Cherlakovskaia station on the Irtysh.

1. Eversmannia subspinosa (Fisch.) B. Fedtsch.—Baibek locality near the confluence of the Dzhaman and the Yakshi-Sarysu, June 12, fl.

Schrenk indicates it in the lower reaches of the Sarysu River. In 1889 Stepanov brought from the middle course of the Sarysu an Eversmannia sp.

1. Astragalus macropterus D. C.—A picket on the Nur River between the Spasskii works and the Uspenskii mine, dry ravine, June 9, fl. and fr.

There are two further indications from the Nur River—by Schrenk and by Dobrovolsky from Chermak (A. puberula Ledb.?). As for the indication by Golde, and after him by P. N. Krylov in “Flora of Altai,” for the environs of Omsk, M. M. Siazov considers this an error and identifies Golde’s plant as A. austriacus L. (“Postgoldeana,” p. 23.)

24. Astragalus orbiculatus* Ledb.—Kara-agach locality on the Aral-Irtysh watershed of the Akmolin. u., solonetz-like bank of a stream with hummocky meadow, June 26, fl. and unripe fr.

There are no other indications.

1. Astragalus buchtormensis Pall.—Omsk u.—v. Antonovka, rarely in steppe meadows, collected May 25 with unripe fr. Akmola district: forest dacha “Shchucharevy borki” between the Bogombai and Selety rivers, stony steppe, June 28; steppe along the Nur River near the village of Chernigovskii, June 3, fr.,

near the Spassky Works on June 8, fr.; the Sarysu River 30–40 versts west of the Uspensky mine, June 11 and 12, fl.; and between the Dzheman-tuma area and Lake Bozgul, south of the Sarysu River, June 17, fr. (the determination was confirmed by P. N. Krylov).

It had previously been reported by Schrenk near Atbasar. In “Cons. Fl. Turk.” Akmola Oblast is not indicated.

1. Astragalus vulpinus Willd.—Akmola uezd: valley of the Nura River at the village of Ivanovskoye, June 3, fl.; valley of the Sokur River near the Spassky Works, June 6, fl.; picket on the Nura River between the Spassky Works and the Uspensky mine, sandy-pebbly bed of the stream, June 9, fl.; Kara-agach area, on sands and along the saline bank of the stream, June 26, fr.—Atbasar uezd: stony steppe bank of the Sarysu River near the mouth of Taldy-sai, June 21, fr.

In 1908 V. Smirnov found it near the Sarysu River in Akmola uezd.

* 27. Astragalus Turczaninowii Kar. et Kir.—Hilly steppe along the right bank of the Nura near the settlement of Chernigovsky, June 3, fl. and fr.; the settlement of Zakharovsky on the Nura, along a ditch, June 4, fr.¹); Baibek area near the confluence of the Dzhaman and Yakshi-Sarysu, June 12, fr.; steppe along the southern margin of the Dzhaman-adyr mountains near the Sarysu, June 13, fl. and fr.

There are no other records.

1. Astragalus Ammodytes Pall.—Kara-agach area on the southern slope of the Aral-Irtysh watershed, sands, June 26, with blue flowers and fruits.

Schrenk found it in the sandy desert of the lower reaches of the Sarysu River on July 25, with white flowers (var. albiflora Ledb.) and fruits. In “Cons. Fl. Turk.” Akmola Oblast is not indicated.

1. Astragalus physodes L.—Steppe between the Nura and Burma rivers, on the road from the Spassky Works to the Uspensky mine, June 9, fl. and fr., abundant.

Previously reported by Schrenk along the Ishim and Tersakkau rivers in May with fruits, and by V. Kapelkin in 1908 in the steppe between the Ishim River and Lake Dengiz. In “Cons. Fl. Turk.” and in P. Krylov’s “Flora of Altai” it is not indicated for Akmola Oblast.

* 30. Astragalus compressus Ledb.—Bank of the Sarysu River south of Mount Kishi-tologoy, June 14, fl. and fr.; steppe between the Dzhaman-tuma area and Lake Bozgul south of the Sarysu River, June 17, fr.

There are no other records.

¹) Astragalus Turczaninowii K. et K., A. Ammodytes Pall., A. compressus Ldb., A. Eremothamnus K. et K. were determined by Prof. V. V. Sapozhnikov.

1. Astragalus fruticosus Pall.—Meadow by the Ulenta River near the village of Karatal’skoe, and steppe between the villages of Nikolaevskoe and Aleksandrovskoe, Akmolinsk district, May 26 and 28, fl.

Schrenk found it on grassy slopes of hills on the Tersakan River, Atbasar district, in May, with fl. and fr. In “Consp. Fl. Turk.” Akmolinsk Oblast is not indicated.

* 32. Astragalus Eremothamnus Kar. et Kir.—Steppe between the town of Akmolinsk and the birch woodland Pervyi Chubar, June 1, fl. and fr.
There are no other records for Akmolinsk Oblast.

1. Astragalus Arbuscula Pall.—Shrubby thickets in the hilly steppe of the southern slope of the Dzhamant-adyr mountains, June 13, fl. and fr.; Mount Konak between the Sarysu and Syrtu-su rivers, on hollows, June 25, fr.; steppe between the Dzhamant-tuma locality and Lake Bozgul, south of the Sarysu River, June 17, fl. and fr.

It is also cited only by V. Kapel’kin (1908) in the steppe near Lake Dengiz, Atbasar district.

* 34. Astragalus Zingeri Korch (?) Steppe ridge between the villages of Maksimovka and Borisovka, Omsk district, May 25, fl.

There are no other records either for Turkestan in “Cons. Fl. Turk.” or for Western Siberia in Krylov’s “Flora of Altai.” The determination needs verification.

1. Vicia tenuifolia Roth.—Novorossiisk settlement, Petropavlovsk district, edge of a marshy birch grove, June 12, fl.; Ermen-tau mountains near the village of Karatal’skoe, Akmolinsk district, May 26, buds.

Previously it was indicated only in the environs of Omsk. In “Consp. Fl. Turk.” Akmolinsk Oblast is not noted.

1. Vicia sylvatica L.—Found by me in many places near Borovoe, Kokchetav district, and in the Maraldy mountains near the Sandyktavskaya stanitsa of the same district, in damp meadows in birch groves and in damp mixed pine-birch forests at the end of June and the beginning of July, with fl. and fr.

Near Borovoe it is also cited by A. Ya. Gordyagin.

1. Vicia tetrasperma Wönch.—The “Chernyi Klyuch” forest tract in the upper reaches of the Bogombai River, Akmolinsk district; damp bank of the Karabulak near the aul of Kopen, June 28, fl. and unripe fr.

It is cited, as rare, in the environs of Omsk and by Schrenk in the Ulutau mountains.

Rosaceae.

* 38. Potentilla approximata Bge.—Borovoe, Kokchetav district, collected in the fields in a pine-birch forest on June 13, 1909, with fl. and fr.

It is indicated in the vicinity of Omsk, but Siazov in “Postgoldeana,” p. 30, rejects this indication as based on an erroneous determination.

* 39. Potentilla longipes Ledb.—Borovoe, Kokchetav uezd, sandy shore of a lake, 4 June, fl.

There are no other records for Akmola Oblast. In “Cons. Fl. Turk.” No. 1538 there is cited a record by Schrenk from the valleys of Ulutau, assigned, however, to Turgai Oblast.

* 40. Rosa songorica Bge. (Rosa laxa Retz.)—In Akmola uezd: River Selety between the settlement of Neshvetaevsky (Elenovka) and Novo-Markovka, descent to the bank, 30 June, unripe fr.; between the settlement of Sofievsky and the town of Akmolinsk, pits in a steppe hollow, 1 July, unripe fr.; alluvial sands and pebbles of the valley of the Nura River near the settlement of Zakharovsky, 4 June, fl.; meadow near the Dare picket between the Spassky works and the Uspensky mine, 9 June, fl. (the determination was confirmed by P. N. Krylov).

There are no other records for Akmola Oblast.

1. Spiraea hypericifolia Lam.—Very widely distributed throughout the oblast: I noted it in 30 places, others in 10. The northernmost points of my finds are the environs of Omsk, a steppe meadow near a farm, 16 May, fl. and unripe fr., and between the settlements of Sosnovka and Aleksandrovka near Omsk, steppe between copses, 23 May, leaves.

M. Siazov considers the settlement of Achaïrsky on the Irtysh River to be the northern point of distribution of this species of meadowsweet.

Grossularieae.

1. Ribes diacantha Pall.—Borovoe, Kokchetav uezd, on damp wooded and stony lake shores, June—unripe fr.; Imanatavskaya stanitsa, Kokchetav uezd, sandy ridge on coastal dunes, 30 July, leaves.

Previously recorded in the Iman-tau Mountains (Slovtsov, 1878) and Ulutau (Gordyagin, 1897).

1. Ribes pubescens Hedlung.—Borovoe, Kokchetav uezd, in pine-birch forests on mountain slopes and along lake shores, June—unripe fruits.

M. Siazov records it in the same Kokchetav Mountains near Shchuchinskaya stanitsa and in the gardens of Omsk.

Umbelliferae.

1. Aegopodium Podagraria L.—Borovoe, Kokchetav uezd, in a depression of a pine-birch forest near a dacha; only leaves were collected, 18 June 1912.

by P. N. Krylov, who also made the determinations on the spot, later confirmed in Tomsk by comparison of this list with herbarium specimens.

There are no other records for Akmola Oblast.

1. Carum trichophyllum Sch.—Kokchetav District: Lake Ulu-kul, halfway along the road between Lakes Dzhukei and Atan-sor, steppe, 26 June, flowering; Akmola District: steppe among kolki near Nikolskoye, 6 July, flowering; steppe along the valley of the R. Ishim between the villages of Novo-Cherkasskoye and Astrakhanskoye, 3 July, flowering and unripe fruit; locality Kara-agach on the Aral-Irtysh watershed, solonetzic bank of a stream with hummocky meadow, 26 June, flowering; R. Sarysu near the mouth of the R. Sortu-su, arable fields near wintering stations, 23 June, flowering.

Near the mouth of the R. Sortu-su it was also collected by V. Smirnov in 1908.

1. Carum bupleuroides Sch.—Wormwood steppe between Kyzyl-espe and the locality Tas-mala on the R. Sary-su, Akmola District, 20 June, flowering.

V. Smirnov in 1908 found it between Lakes Kaburchakty and Chilikopa near the right bank of the R. Sarysu.

1. Libanotis buchtormensis D. C.—A valley in the Neldy Mountains near the Uspensky mine, 10 June, leaves.

In “Consp. Fl. Turk.” No. 1810 it is also recorded for Akmola Oblast. I have found no other literature records.

1. Soranthus Meyeri Ledb.—R. Sarysu near the mouth of the R. Sortu-su, arable fields near wintering stations, 23 June, flowering and unripe fruit.

Earlier, in the same places (locality Tuguskent), it was collected by V. Smirnov in 1908.

* 49. Cachrys macrocarpa Ledb. Akmola District: village of Saretinskoye (Koyandy) between the villages of Zakharovskoye and Dolinskoye, 5 June; village of Dubovskoye on the R. Sokur, stony steppe, 5 June; steppe along the southern edge of the Dzhaman-adyr Mountains, 13 June, fruit.

There are no other records for Akmola Oblast.

Caprifoliaceae.

1. Linnaea borealis L.—Vicinity of Borovoye (Kokchetav Mountains), Kokchetav District: boggy terrace in mixed forest on the south-western slope of Mt. Sinyukha, 12 July, flowering and fruiting; boggy lowland with mixed forest between Akylbaem and Lake Karasym, 9 July, without flowers and fruit.

In the same mountains it was recorded by A. Ya. Gordyagin (Mezhennaya Mountain).

For the environs of Omsk it was indicated by Trautvetter from Slovtsov’s herbarium, but M. Sijazov excludes this plant from the new list of the Omsk flora, Postgoldeana, 1904, perhaps owing to the entirely justified distrust that he has toward Slovtsov’s indications of the localities of plants in his herbarium (see M. Sijazov’s article “List of Plants from the Environs of the Kokchetav Lakes” in the Proceedings of the West Siberian Section of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society).

Rubiaceae.

51. Galium Aparine L.—Akmola uezd: the forest estate “Chernyi Klyuch” in the upper reaches of the Bogombai River, damp bank of the spring, 28 June, flowering; along ravines and the banks of the Kok-uzek River near the Spassky works and the Uspensky mine, sandy-pebbly riverbed with shrubs, 9 June, in flower.

Previously it had been indicated by Schrenk from the Tersakan River and in the Ulutau mountains. In Omsk, Golde found 1 specimen in 1886 in the courtyard of the pharmacy warehouse.

Valerianeae.

52. Patrinia intermedia R. et Sch.—Akmola uezd: stony hills in the environs of the Spassky works, 8 June, in flower; steppe between the Nura and Burnaya rivers, 9 June, budding; a little valley in the Nelda mountains near the Uspensky mine, 10 June, in flower.

In P. N. Krylov’s Flora of the Altai, p. 566, the occurrence of this Patrinia in the mountains of Akmola Oblast is noted. I have found no other indications in the literature. Akmola Oblast is also not indicated in Consp. Fl. Turk. No. 2033.

53. Valeriana tuberosa L.—In Akmola uezd, in the region from Erementau to the Aral-Irtysh watershed, I encountered it very frequently: in the environs of the village of Karatalskoye, 26 May, in flower; in the steppe of the upper reaches of the Ishim River; in the environs of the town of Akmolinsk, along the road through the birch forest Chubart, and in glades in this forest, 1 June, flowering; along the Nura River near the village of Chernyshovskoye in hilly steppe and along the valley of the little river by the village of Ivanovskoye, 3 June, flowering; meadow by the Dare picket between the Spassky works and the Uspensky mine, 9 June, flowering.

Previously it had been indicated by Schrenk from the Ishim River and by V. Kapelkin from the environs of Atbasar (1908). There is also a still unpublished recent indication of the finding of this plant near Shchuchinskaya station, Kokchetav uezd.

Compositae.

1. Linosyris divaricata D. C.—Steppe along the broad ravine Terek-say near the village of Elizavetinskoe in the upper reaches of the river Selety, July 3, fl. Shrenk indicates it in Ulutau, July 5, fl., and A. Ya. Gordyagin between the villages of Mikhailovskoe and Aleksandrovskoe. In “Consp. Fl. Turk.” No. 2134, Akmola Oblast is not indicated.

2. Artemisia laciniata. Willd.—Kokchetav district: Borovoe, birch grove with a bog, July 16, fl.; Lake Dzhaman-tuz, solonchaks, July 31, fl.—Akmola district: the locality Kara-agach, solonetzic bank of a stream, June 26.

Previously it had been indicated only in the environs of Omsk.

1. Cirsium heterophyllum All.—Environs of the station Shchuchinskaya and Borovoe, Kokchetav district, in damp birch and mixed forests, in June and early July, fl.

A. Ya. Gordyagin found it in birch woods near Petropavlovsk, and still earlier Slovtsov (1878) indicated it near Omsk, but M. M. Siyasov does not include this plant in his list of species of the Omsk flora, “Postgoldeana.”

1. Jurinea cyanoides D. C.—Valley of the river Nura near the settlement of Zakharovskoe, June 4; the locality Kara-agach on the Aral-Irtysh watershed, steppe with sands, June 26, fl. and fr.; steppe along the southern margin of the Dzhaman-adyr hills, June 13, fl.; the locality Baibek near the confluence of the Dzhaman- and Yakshi-Sarysu, steppe, June 12, fl.; sands along the river Sarysu near the mouth of the river Sortu-su, June 23, fl. and fr.; sands by Lake Bozgul to the south of the river Sarysu, June 18, fl.

To the north it is indicated by A. Ya. Gordyagin in the lower reaches of the river Nura.

* 58. Tragopogon major Jacq.—The locality Kara-agach on the Aral-Irtysh watershed, steppe with sands, June 26, fl.; wintering grounds on the river Sarysu near the mouth of the river Sortu-su, very sandy soil, June 23, fr.; between Lake Bozgul and the adjacent sands to the south of the river Sarysu, June 17, fr.

I have found no other indications for Akmola Oblast.

1. Chondrilla brevirostris Fisch.—River Sarysu near the confluence into it of the river Sortu-su, wintering grounds and arable fields, June 23, fl. and fr.

Shrenk found it on the river Dzhizdy-kingir, and V. Smirnov at the locality Toguskent on the river Sarysu (1908).

Vaccinieae.

1. Vaccinium Vitis idaea L.—Found by me in many damp places of mixed forest in the region of Borovoe, Shchuchinskaya station and

st. Koturkul, Kokchetav uezd, in June with flowers and unripe fruits; in July—with fruits.

A. Ya. Gordyagin found the cowberry in 1896 in a depression before a peat bog near Lake Chortan-kul, in the same Kokchetav Mountains, where it was also established by me. On p. 300 of his book “Materials for the Knowledge of the Soils and Vegetation of Western Siberia,” however, he writes: “from the Cossacks I heard that it is not found here anywhere in other places.” In “Consp. Fl. Turk.” No. 2891, the cowberry for all of Turkestan is indicated only for Akmola Oblast—in the Chernolutsky pine forest, which in reality lies in Tobolsk Province, 40 versts northwest of Omsk. The indication cited above by Gordyagin concerning the finding of V. Vitis idaea in the Kokchetav Mountains is considered doubtful by the authors of “Consp. Fl. Turk.”

1. Vaccinium Myrtillus L.—In a mixed forest of the Sandyktav Mountains, 5 versts east of the village of Balkashinsky, Kokchetav uezd, 26 July, leaves.

P. Leikov, in his description of the Sandyktav forestry district, on p. 13 speaks of the finding of bilberry in the Sandyktav Mountains in five places (“From the Crown Forests of Akmola and Semipalatinsk Oblasts,” publication of the Administration of State Properties of these oblasts, edited by V. V. Baryshevtsev, Omsk, 1911).

In “Consp. Fl. Turk.” Vaccinium Myrtillus L. is not mentioned at all.

1. Oxycoccos palustris Pers.—Moss bog (“middle ryam”) near Lake Karasye, in the environs of Borovoe, Kokchetav uezd, in July, unripe fruits.

A. Ya. Gordyagin found it in a peat bog near Lake Chortan-kul, near the Shchuchinskaya station, Kokchetav uezd. In “Consp. Fl. Turk.” it is not indicated for Akmola Oblast.

Pyrolaceae.

1. Pyrola chlorantha Swartz.—Environs of Borovoe, Kokchetav uezd, in mixed forest rather frequently, in June and early July, flowers; Maraldy Mountains near Sandyktavskaya station, mixed forest along a stream, 5 June.

In the Kokchetav forests on Mezhennaia Mountain and in the pine forest near Munchaktov, Akmola uezd, it was noted by A. Ya. Gordyagin. In “Consp. Fl. Turk.” No. 2895, the Krasnoyarsk pine forest and the Tara urman, located in Tobolsk Province, are also erroneously indicated for Akmola Oblast.

1. Pyrola minor L.—Mixed forest in the vicinity of Borovoe, Kokch. u., June 19, fr.

A. Ya. Gordyagin notes it in the same forests of the Kokchetav mountains. In “Consp. Fl. Turk.” no. 2896 it is not indicated for Akmola Obl.

1. Moneses grandiflora Salisb.—Between Akylbaem and Lake Karasym near Borovoe, Kokch. u., in a boggy lowland of mixed forest, July 9, past flowering.

A. Ya. Gordyagin found it in the pine forest on Mezhennaia Hill near Borovoe.

1. Chimaphila umbellata Nutt.—Collected by me in five places near Lakes Borovoe and Karasye, Kokchet. u., in mixed forests, in June and early July with fl., at the end of July with fr.

A. Ya. Gordyagin found it in a birch wood near Petropavlovsk. In “Consp. Fl. Turk.” no. 2899, Chernoluch’e, Tobolsk Gub., is erroneously given for Akmola Obl.

Gentianeae.

1. Gentiana riparia Kar. et Kir.—The Bel’-agach River (a tributary of Lake Kolibek) at the crossing with the summer caravan road from Petropavlovsk to Akmolinsk, slope toward the river, June 14, fr.

A. Ya. Gordyagin indicates it in Kokchetav Uezd on solonetz soils near Kokchetav and St. Shchuchinskaya, and also near the village of Zaborovskaya (?). In “Consp. Fl. Turk.” it is not indicated for Akmola Obl.

Cuscuteae.

* 68. Cuscuta epithymum Murr.—The Sarysu River near the mouth of the river Syortu-su, winter quarters and arable lands, June 23, fl. In addition, from the vicinity of Borovoe my herbarium contains specimens very close to C. epithymum Murr.

There are no other records for Akmola Obl.

Borragineae.

* 69. Nonnea pulla D. C.—Between the town of Kokchetav and the village of Alekseevskoe, by the road in the steppe, June 8, fl.; the Sarysu River near the mouth of the river Syortu-su, coastal sands and gullies, June 23, fl.

There are no other records for Akmola Obl.

1. Echinospermum deflexum Lehm.—Borovoe, Kokch. u., in clearings in mixed forest, June 13 and 16, fr.; valley of the Sokur River near the Spasskii works, June 6, fr.

It is recorded in the south of the oblast at the Dulygavy locality by Dobrovolsky and Chermak, and also in “Consp. Fl. Turk.” No. 3107.

Scrophularineae.

71. Veronica pinnata L.—Uspensky mine (Nelda), stony mountain slope, June 10, fl.

Trautfetter, according to Slovtsov’s herbarium, records it near Aktau.

72. Veronica Beccabunga L.—Lake Karas near Borovoe Kokchet. district, moss bog, June 21, unripe fr.

Golde (1888) found several specimens 25 versts south of Omsk near the postal road.

73. Veronica scutellata L.—Environs of Borovoe, Kokchet. district, taken with fl. and fr. in a damp meadow on June 17, in a clearing in mixed forest on June 18, and in a boggy meadow on July 1; Maraldy Mountains near Sandyk-Tavskaya station, damp mixed forest along a stream, July 5, fr.

It is also recorded in the environs of Omsk. For Turkestan, in “Consp. Fl. Turk.” only Akmola Oblast alone is noted.

74. Veronica biloba L.—Picket on the Nur River between the Spassky plant and the Uspensky mine, dry ravine, June 9, fr.; hollow in the Nelda Mountains near the Uspensky mine, June 10, fr.

Schrenk finds it on the Atasu River.

Orobanchaceae.

* 75. Orobanche cernua Loefl. var. cumana Wallr.—Between the Kankrinsky and Alekseevsky villages, Akmola district, in the upper reaches of the Koluton River, solonetz, July 4, fl.; Sarysu River south of Mount Kshitologoi, bank, June 14, fl.

There are no other records for Akmola Oblast.

Labiatae.

76. Salvia silvestris L.—Seleta River between the Neshvetaevsky and Novo-Markovsky villages of Akmola district, descent to the river and bank, June 30, fl.; Kara-agach locality on the Aral-Irtysh watershed, steppe with sands, June 26, fl.; Sarysu River near the mouth of the Skortusu River, riverside sands and gullies, June 23, fl.

V. Smirnov found it in 1908 in a hollow near the Sarysu River.

* 77. Nepeta cataria L.—Valley in the Nelda Mountains near the Uspensky mine, June 10, leaves (?)

There are no other records for Akmola Oblast.

* 78. Dracocephalum nutans L. (?)—Konek Mountain between the Sarysu and Sortu-su rivers, stony sunny slope and steppe, June 25—dry specimens with fruit.

There are no other records for Akmola Oblast.

Plumbagineae.

1. Statice decipiens Ledb.—Steppe along the valley of the Ishim River between the villages of Novo-Cherkasskoe and Astrakhanskoe, July 3, in bud.

Schrenk found it in the Ulutau Mountains and along the Sarysu River.

Plantagineae.

* 80. Plantago leptostachys Ledb.—Kokchetav district: Borovoe, wet meadow, June 29, in flower; Imantavskaya station, pine forest on coastal dunes, June 30, in fruit.

There are no other records for Akmola Oblast and for all of Turkestan. P. N. Krylov, in Flora of Altai, p. 1084, lists localities for this plantain in Tomsk Governorate and adds under the rubric “area of distribution”: “It is not recorded in other places.”

Salsolaceae.

1. Chenopodium hybridum L.—Borovoe, Kokch. d., in mixed forest and in weedy places. June 18, in flower; Imantavskaya station, pine forest on coastal dunes, July 30, in flower.

Slovtsov (1878) records it between Shchuchinskaya station and Borovoe.

* 82. Kirilowia eriantha.—Sagebrush steppe between Kyzyl-espe and the Tas-mola locality on the Sarysu River, June 20.

Polygoneae.

1. Rheum tataricum L. (?)—Konek Mountain between the Sarysu and Sortu-su rivers, June 25; between Kyzym-espe and the Tas-mola locality on the Sarysu River, sagebrush steppe, June 20; Kyzym-espe locality south of the Sarysu River, clay steppe, June 19. In all places, dry shed specimens or only fragments of leaves were taken.

In the south of the oblast, it was collected in dry clayey places by Stepanov in 1889 (Rheum caspicum Pall., according to the determination of Prof. A. Krasnov).

1. Rumex ucrainicus Fisch.—Sarysu River near the mouth of the Taldy-sai, wet alluvial bank with sands, June 21.

V. Smirnov in 1908 found it between the Sarysu River and Sopka Ulkun-Konek in a depression with Spiraea.

Euphorbiaceae.

1. Euphorbia subcordata C. A. Mey.—Borovoe, Kokchetav district, on dry rocks, June 17, in fruit, and July 19, in fruit; village of Alekseevskoe, Kokchetav district, stony hills, June 8, in fruit; along the Ulenta River and in the Erementau Mountains near the village of Karatal’skoe, Akmola district, May 26, in flower.

Previously it was indicated only in the environs of Omsk.

Callitrichineae.

* 86. Callitriche vernalis Kuetz. var. caespitosa (Schultz.).—Kokchetav district: Lake Aryk-balyk near the northern boundary of the Dzhaksy-tyukty Mountains, in water, July 25, with young fruit; environs of the village of Konstantinovskoe, bed of a half-dried steppe stream, July 28, leaves.

P. Krylov in “Flora of Altai,” p. 441, mentions the environs of Omsk, but M. Siyazov on p. 35 of “Postgoldeana,” published a year later than the second volume of P. N. Krylov’s work, says that C. verna L. of Kiloman, from which the indication for the environs of Omsk in “Fl. Altai” was taken, is C. palustris L.

Salicineae.

1. Salix Ledebouriana Trautv.—On islands of the Ulenta River near the village of Karatal’skoe, Akmola district, May 26, young fruit; along the banks of the Kok-Uzek River near the Spassky works, June 8, leaves.

Indicated between Kokchetav and Zerenda and along the Ishim and Tersakan rivers. (Krylov, “Fl. Alt.,” p. 1211).

Betulaceae.

* 88. Betula verrucosa Ehrh. (?)—Spassky works, Akmola district, orchard on the bank of a pond, June 7, in fruit; Kara-agach locality on the Aralo-Irtysh watershed, forest along a brook, June 26, in fruit.¹

Typhaceae.

1. Sparganium minimum Friers.—Environs of Borovoe, Kokchetav district, in the water of a tributary of the lake below the cascades, July 11, in fruit.

¹ These specimens and all the other birches in my herbarium, among which B. alba L. var. latifolia and B. alba L. var. pubescens Eh. and others are noted, need revision, as do some other genera (Ferula, Elymus, etc.).

In addition, it has been found beyond Cheremukhovaya near Omsk (Golde) and in Petropavlovsk district in the Dzhamantyrovo bog near Lake Balykty-kul (Slovtsov).

Lemnaceae.

1. Lemna minor L.—Borovoe, Kokchetav district, in shallow lake bays with silty shores, 15 June.

Recorded in the environs of Omsk.

Najadeae.

1. Potamogeton natans L.—Kokchetav district: in Lake Karasem near Borovoe, 21 July, fruit, and in the river Dzhabai at the village of Balkashinskoe, 26 July, fruit; Akmola district: valley of the Nura River between the villages of Chernigovskoe and Ivanovskoe, in the water and along the banks of oxbow lakes, 3 June, leaves.

Recorded near Omsk (rare) and along the Kamys-aktau River. (?)

1. Potamogeton crispus L.—Borovoe, Kokchetav district, in the water of shallow lake bays, 19 June, flowering, and in another year 21 June, fruit.

Near Omsk found by Yu. Killoman (rare), and in the river Yakshi-kon, Akmola district, by V. Smirnov (the latter—in 1908).

* 93. Potamogeton mucronatus Schrad.—Upper course of the Tasty-uzek River (left tributary of the Kairakty-kuluton River in Kokchetav district), in water, 6 July, flowering and fruiting.

There are no other records for Akmola oblast.

1. Potamogeton alpinus Balb.—Environs of Borovoe, Kokchetav district, in the inflow of the lake below the cascades, 11 July, leaves.

F. Zelinsky in 1909 found it in the southwestern part of Petropavlovsk district along the Kaibagar River.

1. Najas marina L.—Sarysu River in Atbasar district, near the mouth of Taldy-sai, 21 June, young specimen.

F. Zelinsky in 1909 found it in a freshwater pond near Lake Ak-suat on 6 July, with fruits.

Orchideae.

* 96. Corallorhiza innata R. Br.—Maraldy Mountains near Sandyk-tav station, Kokchetav district, damp mixed forest along a stream, 5 July, flowering and fruiting.

There are no other records for Akmola oblast.

1. Goodiera repens R. Br.—Environs of Borovoe, Kokchetav district: mixed forest on Mount Sinyukha, 12 July, flowering, and a marshy lowland in mixed forest between Akylbaem and Lake Karasem, 9 July, flowering.

In the Kokchetav Mountains it was also found by A. Ya. Gordyagin.

1. Gymnadenia cucullata Rich.—In the environs of Borovoe, Kokchetav uyezd, found by me in four places in a pine-birch forest, in July in flower.

Near Borovoe it was also found by A. Ya. Gordyagin.

* 99. Cypripedium macranthon Swartz. (?)—S. Sary-bulak near Borovoe, Kokchetav uyezd, damp mixed forest, 21 July, in fruit.

There are no other records for Akmola Oblast.

* 100. Spiranthes australis Lindl.—Borovoe, Kokchetav uyezd, damp wooded shore of a lake, 10 July, in flower.

There are no other records for Akmola Oblast.

(In P. Krylov’s Flora of Altai, on p. 1301, my specimens of S. australis Lin. are mentioned.)

Liliaceae.

* 101. Gagea pusilla Schult.—R. Ulenty near the village of Karatal, Akmola uyezd, descent to the river with remnants of snow, 26 May, in flower.

There are no other records for Akmola Oblast.

1. Rhinopetalum Karelini Fisch.—Mt. Konek between the rivers Sarysu and Sortu-su, stony slope, 25 July, in fruit; wintering grounds and ploughlands on the r. Sarysu near the mouth of the r. Sortu-su, 23 June, in fruit; steppe between the locality Dzhaman-tuma and Lake Bozgul, south of the r. Sarysu, 17 June, in fruit; all specimens dry.

V. Smirnov in 1908 found it in the same places near Lake Kaburchakty, 8 July, in fruit.

1. Eremurus altaicus Stev.—Solonetzic steppe near the village of Dolinskoe on the r. Nura, 5 June, in bud; steppe between the rivers Nura and Burma, 9 June, in flower; steppe along the southern edge of the Dzhaman-adyr mountains, 13 June, in fruit; steppe between the mountains Aigyr-dzhal and Eskeney in the upper reaches of the r. Kudaï-mendy, a northern tributary of the r. Sarysu, 27 June, in fruit.

In P. Krylov’s Flora of Altai, on p. 1390, it is indicated for the southeastern part of Akmola Oblast.

1. Allium obliquum L.—Valley of the r. Nura near the village of Ivanovskoe, 3 June, in bud; locality Kara-agach on the Aral-Irtysh watershed, in glades in the forest and on a hummocky meadow on the solonetzic bank of a small river, 26 June, in flower.

Found by the Lake Expedition of 1898 along the r. Seleta in Omsk uyezd.

* 105. Allium oleraceum L.—Valley of the r. Nura between the villages of Chernigovskoe and Ivanovskoe, 3 June, in flower and with bulbils.

Iuncaceae.

1. Iuncus alpinus Vill.—Borovoe, Kokchetav uezd, in weedy places along the shores of lakes, 25 June, fl.

Found near Shchuchinskaya station by M. Siyazov.

* 107. Iuncus salsuginosus Turcz.—Kyzyl-espe locality south of the Sarysu River, strongly solonetzic bank of a small river, 19 June, fl.

There are no other records for Akmola Oblast.

* 108. Iuncus atratus Krock.—The village of Novorossiiskoe, Petropavlovsk uezd, marshy tussock meadow, 12 June, fl.; environs of Borovoe, Kokchetav uezd, in damp and marshy meadows, along the shores of steppe lakes, in June, fl. and young fruits; Maraldy Mountains near Sandyk-tavskaya station, damp mixed forest along a stream, 5 July; Dare picket (Akmola uezd) between the Spassky works and the Uspensky mine, meadow, 9 June.

There are no other records for Akmola Oblast.

* 109. Iuncus acutiflorus Ehrh.—Forest allotment “Shingarevy borki” of Akmola uezd, mixed small forest with a bog, 29 June, fl.

There are no other records for Akmola Oblast.

Cyperaceae.

1. Eriophorum gracile L.—Lake Karas’e near Borovoe, Kokchetav uezd, in the water by the shore, 21 July, fl.

A. Ya. Gordyagin found it in 1896 in a peat bog near Lake Chortan-kul in the Kokchetav Mountains.

1. Scirpus alpinus Schleich.—Slope toward the Bel-agach River (inflow of Lake Kalibek) in Kokchetav uezd, 14 June, fl.; Kara-agach locality, Akmola uezd, solonetzic bank of a small river, 26 June, fl.

V. Smirnov in 1908 found it in the same Kara-agach locality.

1. Carex cyperoides L.—Borovoe, Kokchetav uezd, in an open weedy place near the shore of the lake, 25 June 1909.

Recorded in the environs of Omsk.

1. Carex riparia Curt.—Valley of the Nura River between the villages of Chernigovsky and Ivanovsky, in the water and along the banks of oxbow lakes, 3 June, fl. and unripe fruits.

Recorded in the environs of Omsk.

1. Carex secalina Wahl.—In Petropavlovsk uezd near the Karatomarskaya postal station, on solonetz, 30 May, fl., and on the sandy shore of Lake Taincha, 12 June, fl.; in Kokchetav uezd on the shore of Lake Ala-bota, 13 July, fl.

Recorded in the environs of Omsk and in Petropavlovsk uezd.

1. Carex vaginata Tauch.—Found in the environs of Borovoe, Kokchetav uezd, by me—in a boggy lowland with mixed forest, 9 July fl., and by A. Ya. Gordyagin in a peat bog near Lake Chortan-kul and in the pine forest by Mezhenaya Hill.

* 116. Carex diandra Schrank.—Borovoe, Kokchetav u., along the shores of lakes, 21 June fl.

There are no other records for Akmola Oblast.

* 117. Carex canescens L.—Environs of Borovoe, Kokchetav uezd, dry mixed forest, 11 July fl.

There are no other records for Akmola Oblast.

Gramineae.

* 118. Stipa Korschinskyi Roschev.—In the steppes of Kokchetav uezd between Kokchetav and Borovoe, 6 June fl.; near the village of Alekseevskoye, 9 June fr.; Lake Dzhukei, 25 June fl.

There are no other records for Akmola Oblast.

* 119. Calamagrostis elata Blytt.—Lake Karasye near Borovoe, Kokchetav uezd, moss bog, 21 July fl.

There are no other records for Akmola Oblast.

1. Melica nutans L.—Environs of Borovoe, Kokchetav u., in mixed forest and on a wet meadow along a stream, 18–20 June fr.; Maraldy Mountains near Sandyktavskaya Station, Kokchetav u., wet mixed forest along a stream, 5 July fl.

M. Siyazov records it in the environs of Shchuchinskaya Station.

1. Poa attenuata Trin.—Steppe 15 versts south of Lake Taincha, Petropavlovsk uezd, by the road, 13 June fr.; hilly steppe 25 versts north of Borovoe, Kokchetav uezd, 15 June fl.

In Petropavlovsk uezd, on the sands of Kumdy-agach, it was found by F. Zelinsky in 1909.

1. Nephelochloa soongorica Boiss.—Valley of the Nura River near the village of Zakharovskoye, alluvial sands and pebbles, 28 June, dry specimens; a small valley in the Neldy Mountains near the Uspensky mine, 10 June fl.

Earlier it had been found by Schrenk in Atbasar uezd along the Dzhilanchik River.

1. Atropis convoluta Gris.—Between Borovoe and the village of Tupolevskoye, Kokchetav u., hilly steppe, 1 June fr.

F. Zelinsky in 1910 found it near the Togushken picket of Atbasar uezd, on a solonetzic meadow.

1. Festuca arundinacea Schreb.—Kara-agach tract, Akmolinsk district (on the Aralo-Irtysh watershed), saline bank of a river, 26 June fl.

F. Zelinskii in 1909 found it in Petropavlovsk district on the bank of the river Ubagan.

1. Bromus tectorum L.—R. Sarysu near the Tas-mola tract, Atbasar district, wormwood steppe with thickets of Spiraea, 21 June fr.; between Lake Kara-kul and the Kum-dzheylau sands, Akmolinsk district (south of the river Sarysu), steppe with depressions, 19 June fr.

It is reported between Lake Kaburchakty and the river Sortusu, Akmolinsk district (V. Smirnov, 1908).

* 126. Bromus squarrosus L.—Valley in the Neldy mountains near the Uspensky mine, Akmolinsk district, 10 June fl.; Koneken mountain between the rivers Sarysu and Sortu-su, in hollows, 25 June fr.

There are no other records for Akmolinsk Oblast.

* 127. Lepturus pannonicus Kunth.—Shore of Lake Bozgul, Akmolinsk district (south of the river Sarysu), 18 June fl.

There are no other records.

Cupressineae.

1. Juniperus communis L.—Sinyukha mountain near Borovoe, Kokchetav district, mixed forest, 12 July fr.

A. Ya. Gordyagin also records it in the Kokchetav mountains, in the pine forest on Mezhennaia mountain near Borovoe.

Lycopodiaceae.

* 129. Lycopodium clavatum L.—Sinyukha mountain near Borovoe, Kokchetav district, mixed forest, 12 July leaves.

There are no other records for Akmolinsk Oblast.

Equisetaceae.

* 130. Equisetum pratense Ehrh.—Lake Karase near Borovoe, Kokchetav district, moss bog, 21 July leaves; picket on the river Nur between the Spassky works and the Uspensky mine, ravine and sandy-pebble bed of a small river, 9 June leaves.

Golde records it in the environs of Omsk, but M. Siazov in “Postgoldeana,” p. 128, writes: “I do not venture to include Eq. pratense Golde in the list of Omsk species, because it has not been found by anyone else.” My specimens were seen by P. N. Krylov and included by him in the “Flora of Altai,” p. 1754.

1. Equisetum ramosissimum Desf.—The Kara-agach locality, Akmola region (on the Aral–Irtysh watershed), in sandy steppe and on sands, June 26.

In the same Kara-agach locality it was found by V. Smirnov in 1908. Quite recently—in the summer of 1913—M. M. Siyazov found this horsetail near the settlement of Achairsky and the Cherlakovskaya station on the Irtysh River.

* 132. Equisetum scirpoides Mich.—Vicinity of Borovoe, Kokchetav district, on the sandy bank of the Emanai stream between the cascades and the lake, July 11.

There are no other records.

Polypodiaceae

1. Woodsia ilvensis (L.) R. Br.—Mount Sinyukha in the vicinity of Borovoe, Kokchetav district, mixed forest, July 12, spores.

Slovtsov in 1878 found it in the Sandyk-tau and Maraldy mountains, Kokchetav district.

1. Asplenium septentrionale (L.) Hoffm.—Northern Balkashin area, Kokchetav district, on a granite hillock in shade and in crevices, July 26, spores.

Schrenk and F. Zieliński (1910) report it in the Ulutau mountains of Atbasar district.

V. Semenov.

1. Tables of the distribution of flowering and higher cryptogamous plants in Western Siberia, Omsk, 1911, p. 2. ↩↩↩↩↩↩

2. Proceedings of the Society of Naturalists at Kazan University, vol. XXXIV, issue 3. ↩↩

3. Notes of the West-Siberian Department of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society, XXXI, 1904. ↩