XVI International Botanical Congess

Plains around Caspian Sea (Pre-Caspian and Kura-Araks Lowlands, Mangyshlak, West Turkmenistan) are situated within the Sahara-Gobi Desert Region. Just there the ecological and phytocoenotical optimum of xerophilous dwarf-semishrubs (Artemisia lerchiana, Artemisia gurganica, Salsola gemmascens) is observed, peculiar oligodominant coenoses of shrubs (Atraphaxis replicata, Caragana grandiflora, Rhamnus sintenisii, Salsola arbuscula) and semishrubs (Convolvulus fruticosus, Krascheninnikovia ceratoides, Salsola arbusculiformis) are characteristic of this region, grasses (Poa bulbosa, Stipa sareptana, etc.) are widely distributed. Some species of marked importance in vegetation have the limits of their ranges: the eastern limits - Artemisia taurica, Artemisia tschernieviana, etc: the western ones - Arthrophytum lehmannianum, Salsola arbusculiformis, etc: the northern ones - Artemisia kemrudica, Salsola gemmascens, etc., the southern ones - Artemisia lerchiana, A. lessingiana, A. marschalliana, etc.