沙漠研究 24-1, 157-160 (2014)
Ἃ₍◊✲ 24-1, 157 - 160 (2014)
Journal of Arid Land Studies
Journal of Arid Land Studies－ DT11 Refereed Paper －㸫DT11 Refereed Paper㸫

The Data Base of the Flora of Uzbekistan
Komil TOJIBAEV *1), Natalya BESHKO1), Farhod KARIMOV 1), Avazbek BATOSHOV 1),
Orzimat TURGINOV 1) and Dilnoza AZIMOVA 2)
Abstract: Uzbekistan is located in the center of Eurasia. Deserts occupy almost 85% of the territory; mountains and foothills coverabout 15%. The flora includes more than 4250 species, but the check-list is still incomplete and the floristic data for several regionsof Uzbekistan is imperfect. Since 2011 the compiling of digital database of the flora of Uzbekistan was running. This work is basedon the field surveys, analysis of TASH herbarium materials and all available published sources with application of GIS software.
During 2011-2013, 91 new findings were detected and 8 species new for science were founded. Contents of the database will berequired for implementation of the “National Strategy and Action Plan of Biodiversity Conservation”, for development of the protectedareas system, for identification of important plant areas, for ecological monitoring and education as well as a background of newedition of the “Flora of Uzbekistan and the Red Data Book of Uzbekistan” etc.
Key Words: Data base, Endemic, Flora, Phytogeography, Uzbekistan

1. Introduction
The Republic of Uzbekistan is located in the center of theEurasia. The flora accounts more than 4250 species ofvascular plants including large numbers of endemic,endangered and globally important species. The floristic data
for several regions of Uzbekistan is imperfect and studies arecontinuing. The six-volume edition the Flora of Uzbekistan(1941-1962) contains 4148 species (including of 3663 nativeand 485 alien species). However, this publication became
considerably obsolete. During the last 50 years more than
450 new species and 3 new genera were described, significant
changes took place in the plant taxonomy, the information on
distribution of many plant species was comprehensivelyupdated, and numerous invasive species became adapted to theterritory of Uzbekistan. Since then, the process of intensive
desertification and loss of vulnerable components of local
biodiversity is occurring. Since 1963, the publication of theConspectus Florae Asiae Mediae was launched by botanists of
the Soviet Union. It played great role in understanding offlora of this territory. This megaproject was completed in
1993 with publication of the last (10th) volume. The area of
distribution of species was indicated by natural (not politicaland administrative) regions, particularly, by mountain ridges,
the majority of which has trans-boundary position.
After disintegration of the Soviet Union and ratification of
the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) andConvention to Combat Desertification (CCD) by five Central
Asian new independent states, the main objectives of botanical* Corresponding Author: ktojibaev@mail.ru

research in national level are the inventory and analysis of thefloristic diversity, evaluation of endemic, rare and endangered
species in accordance with IUCN Red List Categories andCriteria.
However, absence of online digital sources
complicates implementation of this objective. Generally, thefloristic data exist in the “hard copy” format such as printed
publications, scientific reports, dissertations and herbarium
collections. Over a period of independence, the current list offlora was compiled and published only in Kyrgyzstan (Lazkovand Sultanova, 2011).
Uzbekistan is most densely populated country in Central
Asia. The problem of desertification and degradation ofnatural ecosystems is a very critical issue in Uzbekistan.
During the last decades, environmental impact of humanactivities significantly increased. Overgrazing, clear-cuttingof trees and shrubs, reclamation of large areas for agriculture,minerals extraction, construction, unregulated collection of
medical and other economic valuable plants, “wild” recreation
are the most significant threats to the flora and vegetation coverin Uzbekistan. The database of the flora of Uzbekistan will
enable us to assess the actual condition of the plant diversity, toanalyze the changes, to identify the hot spots of most valuable
plants (Important Plants Areas), to evaluate the status ofendemics and rare species according to IUCN Red List
Categories and Criteria, and to develop recommendations on
the conservation of biodiversity and ecosystems.
The Central Herbarium of Uzbekistan (TASH) is an
important source for compilation of the database of the flora ofUzbekistan. It is the largest herbarium collection ofMiddle-Asian species worldwide with more than 1.5 million
㸦Received, September 14th, 2013; Accepted, December 13th, 2013㸧

100125, Durmon yuli str., 32 Tashkent, Uzbekistan
1) Institute of Plant and Animal Life Gene Bank, Tashkent, Uzbekistan

2) Djizzakh Pedagogical Institute, Djizakh, Uzbekistan

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herbarium specimens collected since 1840. The absence of aconsistent digital source of available information on the plant
diversity of Uzbekistan is a serious shortcoming for thepractical activities of the nature conservation agencies andprotected areas, as well as for monitoring, education andscientific research.

2. Methodological Basis
Thefield surveys were performed within the entire territoryof Uzbekistan by traditional transect methods with collectionof herbarium specimens and photographing of plants in nature.
The coordinates of plants species location were recorded using
GPS devices. The “Flora of Uzbekistan” (1941-1963), the“Conspectus Florae Asiae Mediae” (1963-1993) andmonographic treatments of certain families and genera are used
for plant species identification.
The information about herbarium specimens including
locality, date of collection, collector and identificator’s namewas entered into the Microsoft Excel tables and was integrated
into the Microsoft Access database. The most representative
herbarium specimens for every species are scanned with theHerbscan device. The data are geo-referenced and imported
into ArcGIS 9.3, transformed to a point map layer and saved asa shape file (shp). A WGS84 Geographic coordinate system
was used as a reference datum. The point shape file was used
to create a series of thematic maps to show the spatial
distribution of plant species.
The annotated list of the flora of Uzbekistan and lists offlora for the botanical-geographical and administrative regionsof the country are being compiled on the basis of analysis ofherbarium collections and published floristic data.
Families are arranged in accordance with the newest APGsystem(2012)(http://www.mobot/org/research/APweb/
welcome.html. Accepted names of plant species are given as
www.ipni.org and www.theplantlist.org). Authors of thespecies are spelled in accordance with Brummit and Powell(1992).
The re-evaluation of national threat categories for endemicand rare species is carrying out according to IUCN Red ListCategories and Criteria Version 3.1 (2001, 2012).

3. Results and Discussion
The main idea of our work is to analyze all available
floristic data (uppermost TASH herbarium materials) and tocompile information on taxonomy, morphology, ecology,
geographical distribution, economic significance and status ofspecies into the digital database. A great amount of material
was accumulated during the entire history of botanical study ofFig. 1. Botanical and Geographical regions of Uzbekistan.
Mountainous Middle Asian Province: 1 - Western Tien Shan, 2 Fergana, 3 - Fergana-Alai, 4 - Nurata, 5 - Kuhistan, 6 Gissaro-Darvaz, 7 - South-Western Gissar, 8 - Near-Pjandzh,
Turan Province: 9 - Upper-Syrdarya, 10 - Middle-Syrdarya, 11 Kyzylkum, 12 - Bukhara, 13 - South Near-Aral, 14 - Aral, 15 Ustyurt.

Uzbekistan. We can use data of more than one and half
century for assessment of the process of desertification andtransformation of flora and vegetation cover of Uzbekistan.
This objective is achieved, to the best advantage, byapplication of GIS software which combines conventional
operations with databases with options of visualization andspatial geographical analysis. The establishment of the digital
database based on GIS is a large-scale work that has no
analogy in Middle Asia. This project has state financing andco-financing by the GEF Small Grants Program which
partially covers the needed expenses.
The matrix for accumulation of data on distribution of plant
species is the scheme of phytogeographical phytochoria of
Uzbekistan developed by authors (Fig. 1). This scheme isbuilt on the basis of the natural boundaries ofphytogeographical regions, analysis of species composition,
distribution patterns of endemic and sub-endemic taxa, andcharacteristics of landscapes and vegetation cover. Basicworks of different authors devoted to the problem ofphytogeography of Central Asia including the latest
publications (Rachkovskaya et al., 2003) are used.
The analysis of all available materials on plant diversity of
Uzbekistan showed the deficiency of floristic data for many
regions of the country (Fig. 1). The flora of somemountainous and desert areas, for example, the South-Western
Tien Shan, the Nuratau mountains, the lower part of the Amu
Darya river basin, were well studied. The remaining territoryof Uzbekistan was partially studied or investigations arerunning at present. For these regions, there are only thedisembodied data (herbarium specimens, various scientificreports, articles etc.). For lack of floristic data we cannot use
the system of grid cells for mapping of plant species
distribution, which is used, for example, in the long-term

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Table 1. Quantity of species, herbarium specimens and new findings
for certain genus of flora of Uzbekistan entered into database.
Genus

S pecies

Herbariumspecimens

Number ofnew records

569
2012506

7Iris
Allium31101

Acer
Ferula355

Eremurus
Jurinea3134

Cousinia
Silene13147

Dianthus
Carex

1742

Astragalus
Lathyrus

268
9Trigonella
Hedysarum
Onobrychis

72812430782

4
1

Oxytropis
Euphorbia

6335

1117
1006

3
2

Andrachne
Fritillaria

37241
166

Tulipa
Alcea

26
55603
341

Althaea
Atraphaxis
Polygonum
Rumex
Delphinium
Ranunculus

854
847

8443
2834
379

2
7124
1332
7080

26371
386

8
26

124
494
203

14
19

153
351

35577

2

3

project “Atlas Florae Europaeae” (AFE).
Currently, more than 49,000 records on 1925 species wereentered in the database including the largest genus of the floraof Uzbekistan - Astragalus (267 species), Cousinia (139),Allium (127), Gagea (more than 68), Oxytropis (63), Ferula(59), Artemisia (47), Jurinea (40), Eremurus (32) and others(Table 1). The work process showed that the great volume ofTASH herbarium materials was not revised during the issuanceof the “Flora of Uzbekistan”, the “Conspectus Florae Asiae
Mediae” and compilation of floristic check-lists of various
regions of Uzbekistan. Thus, 47 new records for Uzbekistan
were detected in the TASH collection (Tojibaev, 2010) as aresult of study of the flora of South-Western Tien Shan.
During 2011-2013 8 species new for science were found, 91
new records for Uzbekistan and great quantity of new findingsfor various phytogeographical regions were detected as a resultof ours field expeditions and examination of TASH collection.
This number of new findings is not a limit since the work
continues.

In the Flora of Uzbekistan (Vvedenskiy, 1941) the Allium L.
genus is represented with 68 species in the flora of Uzbekistan.
According to latest data (Khassanov, 2008), onions ofUzbekistan account not less than 122 taxa (118 species and 4sub-species).
More than 2000 herbarium specimens
belonging to 101 species of them are kept in TASH. Somespecies are represented only with holotypes stored in TASH,LE, GAT, LI and other herbariums worldwide. As a result of
our work, 7 species of Allium (A. flavellum Vved., A.
incrustatum Vved., A. lutescens Vved., A. platyspatum
Schrenk, A. oreophylloides Regel, A. sordidiflorum Vved., A.
viridiflorum Vved.) were added to the list of flora ofUzbekistan. Two new for science species (A. tatyanae F.O.
Khass. & F. Karim. ined., A. reinchardii F.O. Khass. & F.
Karim. ined.) were found during field surveys in 2011-2013.
The similar situation is observed for many polymorphous
genera of the flora of Uzbekistan. Thus, the genus Cousinia
Cass. (Cherneva, 1962) is represented in Uzbekistan with 132
species that amount to more than half of all Central Asian
species of Cousinia (262 species according to Cherneva(1993)). In TASH there are more than 2800 herbarium
specimens of Cousinia collected from the territory ofUzbekistan.
As a results of our studies, the flora of Uzbekistan wassupplemented with 7 species of Cousinia (ɋ. carduncelloides
Regel et Schmalh., C. kokanica Regel et Schmalh., C. laniceps
Juz., C. ninae Juz., C. pannosa Winkl., C. tonementella Ledeb.,
C. waldheimiana Bornm.). The Astragalus L. is the largest
genus of the flora of Uzbekistan and Central Asia. In TASH,
it is represented with the greatest quantity of herbarium
specimens. Around 7000 of them were collected from theterritory of Uzbekistan.
The “Flora of Uzbekistan” contains 254 species(Gontcharov, 1955). According to the “Conspectus Florae
Asiae Mediae”, 257 species are recorded for Uzbekistan. We
found that not less than 268 species grow in Uzbekistan. Outof them, 6 species were described after issuance of 6th volumeof the Conspectus (Kamelin, 1981), 6 new records forUzbekistan (Astragalus artemisiformis Rassul., Astragalus
bosbutooensis E.Nikit. et Sudn., Astragalus heterotrichus
Gontsch., Astragalus sericeopuberulus Boriss., Astragalus
taldycensis Franch., Astragalus varzobicus Gontsch.) weredetected during compilation of the database.
As a result of geo-referencing and import of the data toArcGIS, the distribution map of monocotyledonous geophytes
in the Fergana valley, distribution maps of tulip species ofUzbekistan, distribution maps of some rare and endemic
species included into the Red Data Book of Uzbekistan,location map of new records and other have been prepared.

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4. Conclusion
Thus, the database will be required for creating the cadasterof the flora of Uzbekistan and floristic GIS map, forimplementation of the “National Strategy and Action Plan ofBiodiversity Conservation”, for development of protected areas
system, for ecological monitoring and education, for theissuance of the new edition of the “Flora of Uzbekistan”, andfor re-evaluation of the national Red List of threatened species
in accordance with current IUCN Red List Categories andCriteria, etc.

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