Subnivale vegetation of the Xinaliq region (Greater Caucasus)

Pervin Azizli

Baku State University

Table of Contents

Greater Caucasus ( brief summary) XINALIQ - the highest village in Azerbaijan Location and climate of the Xinaliq Subnivale vegetation of the region

i Greater Caucasus content

• Greater Caucasus is the major mountain range of the Caucasus Mountains.• The range is traditionally separated into three parts:Western Caucasus, from Black Sea to Mount ElbrusCentral Caucasus, form Mount Elbrus to Mount KazbekEastern Caucasus, form Mount Kazbek to the Caspian Sea

• In the wetter Western Caucasus, the mountains are heavily forested . In the drier Eastern Caucasus, the mountains are mostly treeless

Highes points of the parts of Greater Caucasus

Western Caucasus

Eastern Caucasus

Central Caucasus

XINALIQ - the highest village in Azerbaijan• Xinaliq is Azerbaijan’s highest mountain village, approximately 2,250 metres

above sea level. Xinaliq is in a stunning location not far from Shahdag, Azerbaijan’s highest peak, in the southeast ridge of the Caucasus mountains.

Xinaliq

•Location It is located just north of Quba in the middle of the Greater Caucasus mountains that divide Russia and the South Caucasus. Khinalug is also the highest, most remote and isolated village in Azerbaijan and among the highest in the Caucasus.

•ClimateThis type is characteristic of the eastern sections of the Great Caucasus range and of the Small Caucasus mountain chain. The climate has continental features over most of the area: mean annual precipitation varies from 600 to 1000 mm. Due to the absence of refugia the zonation is relatively simple. The weather changes dramatically during summer and winter, ranging from −20 °C to 18 °C. 

Subnivale vegetation of the Xinaliq regionSub-nival belt: The subnival zone represents the upper level of the alpine belt, almost devoid of soil cover. Only a few plants are found here and respectively only mono or bidominant plant communities. It is the highest zone that vegetation typically exists. This area is shaped by the frequent frosts that restrict extensive plant colonization. Vegetation: Vegetation is patchy and is restricted to only the most favorable locations that are protected from the heavy winds that often characterize this area.Mosses, cluster-forming plants and lichens that arise from an interaction between fungi and algae.

Nepeta Supina

Family: Lamiaceae

•Plants perennial, with gray or white tomentose hairs. •Rhizomes with scalelike leaves. • Flowering. Jul-Sep, fruiting. Aug-Oct •Endemic species of the Caucasus.

•It grows on gravelly and stony places, on moraine

in the alpine zone of up to 3500 m above sea level

•Was found in the Xinalig region

Draba bryoidesFamily: Brassicaceae

• On the rocks , moraines and alpine meadows at altitudes of 2,000 to 3,400 meters .•Perennial, inflorescence head-like raceme 5 cm heigh or more. Flowers 4-5 mm across, yellow. Flowering . IV-V. •Endemic speices of the Greater Caucasus•Leaves are small , 1.5-2.5 mm long.•Was found in the Xinalig region

Antennaria caucasicaFamily:Asteraceae Subfamily:AsteroideaeGenus:Antennaria .

•Grows in alpine and sub–alpine belts, at the altitudes of 2900–3200 (3500) meters above sea level, in stony places, meadows. Flowering from June to July, fruiting from July to August.

•Perennial, white–tenuitomentose herb 5–15 cm with creeping rhizome and prostrate, rooting shoots.•Exist in subalpine and alpinebelts of the Greater Caucasus (on the territory of Azerbaijan)

Symphyoloma gaveoleusFamily: Apiaceae (carrot family) •Herbaceous, perennial• It contains furokumarin •Endemic species of the Greater Caucasus•Was found in the Qusar region (Tufandag)

Pseudovesicaria digitataFamily: Brassicaceae

•Critically endangered species. •Endemic of the Caucasus.•Grows in alpine belt, at the altitudes of 3600–3900 meters above sea level, on screes. Flowering in July, fruiting in August.•Biennial glabrous, glaucous plant 5–20 cm. Stem almost simple.•Leaves fleshy, lower ones obtuse–tridentate or integerrime. •Was found in Tufandag ( added to “Qirmizi kitab”)

Saxifraga flagellarisFamily: SaxifragaceaeGenus: Saxifraga

•The stems are single, erect and leafy, growing to 3–10 cm tall. The basal leaves in a dense rosette from which long, filiform runners radiate ending in a small, rooting offset; •they also have glandular hairs on the margins. Each stem usually has one terminal flower , rarely two, with golden yellow petals, much longer than the calyx lobes. The whole plant is more or less red.• It grows in moist places, on gravel or in moss carpets.•It is not in any danger of extinction, but is yet very rare.

Aetheopappus caucasicusFamily: Asteraceae

•Herbaceous, perennial, up to 35 cm in height. Stems simple•The flowers are bright pink.•Flowering in July-August

The species that needed to define more precisely:

Vicia caucasica

Veronica minutaSilene caucasicaBromopsis variegata

Delphinium caucasicumCerastium kazbeki

Minuartia Verna

Corydalis alpestreMiniartia micranthaM.WoronoviiM.LineataM.ImbricataPrimula bayeriniVeronica minutaColpodium vesicolor ( was found in Shahdag )

Recources

•Esgerov A.M. «Azerbaycanin ali bitkileri» .I cild, Baki,Elm ,2005•Esgerov A.M. «Azerbaycanin ali bitkileri». II cild, Baki, Elm, 2005•Esgerov A.M. «Azerbaycanin ali bitkileri»,III cild, Baki, 2005•Hetemov V.V. «Dağlıq ekosistemlərdə bitkilərin həyatı və faydası». Baki ,2001•N. Zazanashvili, R. Gagnidze & G. Nakhutsrishvili. «Main types of vegetation zonation on the mountains of the Caucasus». 2000•Shamil Shetekauri, David Chelidze and Nana Barnaveli. «Diversity and Florogenesis of Subnival Flora of the Caucasus». Journal of Life Sciences 6 (2012)•Kikvidze, Zaal & Nakhutsrishvili, Georgi. «Facilitation in subnival vegetation patches». Journal of Vegetation Science 9: 261-264, 1998