Vascular flora of the Nuratau Mountains (Uzbekistan): an annotated checklist

Abstract

The Nuratau Mountains located in Uzbekistan, in the transitional zone between the Central Asian Mountain and the Turanian phytogeographical provinces, are one of the key biodiversity areas within the Mountains of Central Asia Global Biodiversity Hotspot. These medium-altitude semiarid mountains are treated as the Nuratau phytogeographical district and have been identified as a center of endemism and priority area for protection. The flora of this very peculiar large natural area has been studied for over 150 years, but a complete checklist has never been published. This paper, which provides a fairly complete synopsis of the vascular flora of the Nuratau Mountains, enumerates 1320 species from 471 genera and 86 families.