Vegetation of the steppe zone. Steppe zone - description and general characteristics

Steppe is a type of vegetation represented by a community of drought-resistant perennial herbaceous plants with a predominance of sod grasses, less often sedges and onions.

They are common where there is very little rainfall and the climate is moderately warm.

Habitat

If you analyze the geographical location of steppe reliefs on the globe, you will find that the most common steppes are formed in the interior of the continent.

The steppe regions of the temperate zones of the southern and northern hemispheres are characterized by treeless watersheds, a dry hot climate, and the dominance of cereal greenery on dark chestnut and chernozem lands.

Steppes, altered by pasture digression, prevail in area and show low-grass grazing communities with a predominance of fescue and wormwood. Among other things, the steppe includes forbs and all kinds of shrubs... In addition to the mountain steppes, solonetzic steppe plants, such as wormwood, vostrets, etc., remained in small fragments on the plain. Thymes, cornflowers and other plants are specific for the steppe on gravelly lands.

Systematization

According to the research of researchers, according to the classification, steppe plants can be divided into two types:

• meadow (in the forest-steppe zone);
• typical (in the steppe zone).

There are a large number of different plants, we will consider only a few of them in more detail:

Biennial or perennial herb. Plant height is about one and a half meters. The stem is single, straight, spreading upward. The leaves are pinnate, large, 10 to 25 cm long and 4 to 10 cm wide. Leaves rosette with petiole, sessile, stalk-embracing.

Green on top, and below covered with snow-white felt, there are scanty thorns along the edges. The flowers are collected in spherical inflorescences of bluish-white colors. The diameter of the spherical head is 4-5 cm. Fruits are achenes. Grows among shrubs in river valleys, on wastelands and edges.

Perennial- families Compositae with erect stem. Its height varies from 45 to 62 cm. Stem leaves are pinnately dissected, divided into a huge number of lobules. The inflorescence is corymbose.

Small, snow-white flowers(pink-lilac or red). Blooms for a very long time in June-August, grows on hills everywhere, can grow on meadow steppe. Often found on steep slopes.

. Perennial herb - lily family. The stem of asparagus is erect, up to 150 cm high, branched. The leaves are scaled up, and modified shoots resembling leaves are created in the axils of the stem. The camouflage stem is even, bright, forming shoots.

They are used like a vegetable. The flowers are emerald yellow. The fruit is scarlet (berry). Blooms in June - July. Asparagus can grow in meadows, among small forests, in steppes and, of course, on mountain slopes.

Herbaceous plant family buttercups... Differs in early flowering (from 40 to 50 days). The very first flowers, as always, are large, pale yellow, amber, apical.

At the beginning of flowering (the height of the bush is from 10 to 15 cm), and at the time of fruiting it reaches 35 - 65 cm.It is found almost everywhere:

• in each bush from 3 to 15 generative;
• and 4 to 22 vegetative shoots.

. The plant is from the labiate family. Possesses a creeping and branched stem. It takes root, forming new stems. The leaves are rounded, reniform, petiolar. Flowers 3-5 pcs. are located in the axils of the middle leaves, they are tiny, violet-blue or azure-lilac in color.

Pedicels are five times shorter than the calyx, provided with bracts. The height of the stems varies from 10 to 35 cm. Blossoms in May-June. It can grow along ravines and on hillsides.

Perennial Herb - Family St. John's wort... The stem is straight, from 45 to 75 cm in height, glabrous, with 2 edges. Leaves are elongated and sessile. On the leaves, dotted containers are scattered, which look like holes, hence the name - perforated St. John's wort.

The flowers are countless, yellow-golden hue, collected in a wide-paniculate, almost corymbose inflorescence. Sepals pointed with integral edge. Petals twice as long as sepals, blooms in June-July. The rhizome is not thick and stems extend from it.

Veronica Dubravnaya

Perennial herb. Green shoots persist all year round. The leaves are arranged oppositely. The flower has one pistil and two stamens. Veronica's fruit is compressed capsule... Grows in meadows.

. Plant buckwheat family, the height ranges from 15 to 40 cm. It has smooth, spreading stems. Leaves are lanceolate or elliptical, tiny, with a short root. The flowers are present in the axils of the leaves and are divided over the whole plant. The corolla of the flower is dull pink. The fruit is a nutlet (triangular).

Blooms from May to October. It grows along paths, on avenues, in yards, on pastures. By the way, on pastures, where there is a gigantic overload of livestock, all plant variations suffer, however, not knotweed.

Common rape

Herbaceous plant - belongs to the family cruciferous... Bright greenish rosettes of a rape of intricate pinnately dissected leaves. It dissolves in May-June.

With an abundance of moisture and sun from the melted snow, the rape lightning fast a flowering process with a brush of yellow flowers is pulled out.

The fruit is multi-seeded, strong. The honey plant is excellent.

Violet

Belongs to the violet family. Reaches the stem of about 30 cm. Petioles of large broad-heart-shaped leaves (grooved). Stipules are large, rusty-red. Grows on a hill, in areas with low grassy cover. Will grow well on rocky areas of the surface.

. Family (Compositae). The root is ligneous, vertical, forming branched flowering processes and straight, uneven, purplish branched flowering shoots.

The leaves of the processes and the lower stems are three times pinnately dissected, lobules 3-10 mm long (narrow-linear), slightly pointed, upper and middle stem leaves are sessile, short, narrow-linear. The outer leaves are oval, almost rounded, plastic, green along the back, the inner leaves are filmy-bordered.

The steppe zone is considered one of the main land biomes... Plants in the steppe are quite resistant to an arid climate and can coexist for a long time with a moisture deficit.

Now on the territory of our homeland it is difficult to find pristine places untouched by man. Most of the plains suitable for agriculture are plowed up, forests are cut down, water bodies are polluted, blocked by dams and other structures. Pure nature is now a rarity. The same can be said about the real Russian steppe, which has remained intact only in some places in Siberia and the European zone of Russia. But such sites are of great interest for botanists and amateurs, because their flora is capable of boggling the imagination. What plants grow in the steppes?

Herbs

The most diverse and, undoubtedly, the most beautiful is the herb steppe. She can amaze with her appearance literally from the very beginning of spring, when the snow has just melted. At this time, this territory has a brown color, due to the remnants of last year's grasses. But in just a couple of days on the ground, you can see large lumbago bells, they look pubescent and have a lilac color. This culture is still familiar to many as a dream-grass. Also in early spring small green seedlings of cereals and sedges appear in the steppe.

A couple of weeks later, among the greenery, the most beautiful golden flowers of adonis appear, which, like stars or lights, are visible in the not yet dense grass. Also, hyacinth flowers open, they have a pale blue color.

Over time, green grasses rise higher and higher; in such greenery, only occasionally you can see small whitish anemone stars, as well as nomad's brushes. In the middle of summer, the steppe turns purple - sage blooms en masse. It is replaced by White color- flowers of chamomile, mountain clover and fluffy creamy meadowsweet.

The herb steppe is capable of striking the imagination at any time. In some of its areas, more rare and interesting plants appear, for example, crocuses, snowdrops, hyacinths and tulips. But it is not possible to admire their flowering for long. By the way, such crops are interesting in that all the nutrients stored in the fall are stored in their bulbs, which allows the flowers to delight us with their beauty almost immediately after the snow has parted.

Feathery steppe

Such steppes are rarely found in the south of Russia, but earlier feather grass was the main plant of our steppes. This culture usually coexists with cereals: fescue, keleria, wheatgrass, etc. Such plants have an abundant fibrous root system, which penetrates very deep into the ground, trying to get water. Also, in the feather grass steppe, rather large dicotyledonous crops are often found - purple mullein, kermek, and yellow pyrethrum. Such individuals have even longer roots, which allows them to reach even to groundwater.

Very interesting are the small plants that live in the most upper layers soil. They are called ephemerals, and their root system often does not even reach ten centimeters. Such plants do not live long, as long as there is still moisture in the soil from melting snows. Ephemera have a very short life cycle and a prolonged rest period.

Feather grass itself is a very interesting culture. It is a drought-resistant cereal that has a tuft of cord-like roots. Such a root system spreads widely and deeply along the ground, sucking out all possible moisture. During flowering, feather grass forms a special feather, which is fluffy and light. Its spine attaches to a tiny weevil. After the seeds ripen, the caryopsis is carried by such a feather along with the wind over very long distances. After that, it gently lowers to the ground and with its sharp end easily penetrates the ground. Changes in air humidity in the morning and evening lead to the fact that the feathery awn on the weevil slowly rotates, as if burying planting material into the ground. If the grains get on the animal's fur, they will behave in the same way - penetrating the skin and muscles, which is fraught with disease and even death.

Towards the end of summer, as well as in autumn, a very interesting phenomenon can be seen in the feather-grass steppe during the winds. A light and almost transparent ball is jumping over the brown and yellowed grass. It can land, bounce off the ground, and again fly into the wind over very long distances. This phenomenon is called tumbleweed, the ball consists of several plants (for example, kachima, kermek, zopnik, etc.), intertwined with dried stems and leaves. Thanks to this property, these steppe cultures multiply, because as the ball moves, seeds are poured from it, which will become new plants next year.

Southern steppes are located on significant areas in Western Siberia. Here, the herbage mostly consists of grasses: feather grass, wheatgrass, sheep and fescue. However, other types of feather grass are found in this region. In addition, in such a steppe, you can find astragalus, ranks, sickle-shaped alfalfa. Many dicotyledonous plants can grow in the Siberian steppes, but they are not able to give such a bright change of colors as in European forbs.

So, we can conclude that not all plants are found in the steppes. Most of the crops in the steppe are highly drought tolerant. They easily endure weather difficulties, are characterized by interesting breeding methods. And in the warm season, the steppe is an incredibly beautiful sight.

The steppes are the main value for which the reserve was created. The steppes represented on its territory belong to the northern, or meadow. This means that they are located at the northern limit of the distribution of steppe vegetation.

Among other types of steppes, meadow steppes have suffered the most from economic development by humans. The main areas, once occupied by them, turned into arable land. All the sections of meadow steppes that have survived in Eastern Europe, lying on watersheds (plakors), can now be counted on one hand. The largest of them are included in the Central Black Earth Reserve - the Streletskaya (730 ha) and Cossack (720 ha) steppes. Other more or less large surviving areas of the meadow steppes of Russia are the Yamskaya steppe of the Belogorye reserve (Belgorod region, 410 hectares), Kuncherovskaya forest-steppe and the Poperechenskaya steppe of the Privolzhskaya forest-steppe reserve (Penza region, together 450 hectares).

The Streletskaya and Cossack steppes represent the never-plowed (virgin) most typical meadow steppes in their best expression. These steppes avoided plowing due to the fact that since the 17th century they were in the communal use of archers and Cossacks and were intended only for haymaking and, in part, for grazing. They have survived to this day, because in 1935 they became part of the Central Black Earth Reserve, created thanks to the efforts of Professor V.V. Alekhine, who made a huge contribution to the study of the steppes of the entire Central Black Earth Region and especially the Kursk Region.

The conservation of steppe areas is not yet a complete solution to the problem of preserving their biodiversity. Meadow steppes retain their basic qualities only when the aboveground phytomass is alienated. The main role in this process in pre-agricultural times (before the beginning of agricultural development of the land by humans) was played by large herd ungulates that grazed in the steppes in significant quantities: wild horses - tarpans, saigas, and tours. Such large rodents as ground squirrels and marmots, as well as some herbivorous birds: bustards, little bustards, and others were found in abundance. A significant role, apparently, was played by steppe fires that destroyed rags. Steppe vegetation in modern absolutely protected conditions, i.e. with complete non-interference of man in the ongoing processes, the meadow gradually gives way, the introduction of tree and shrub species is observed. The main reason for this is the intensive accumulation of rags and long-term non-decomposing litter, the so-called "steppe felt". This is due to the absence of large phytophagous animals - consumers of green phytomass, which, dying off every year, falls on the soil surface. Under the influence of the litter, the temperature, water and light conditions of the upper soil horizons change. In these new conditions, long-rhizomes become more competitive meadow species, and the steppe forbs gradually falls out of the herbage; the structure of the vegetation cover changes, the species richness decreases. In order to avoid such undesirable changes, it is necessary to find a suitable replacement for the impact on the grass stand of the steppe, which was previously exerted by wild animals and steppe fires. Such measures can be mowing or grazing of domestic animals, it is also possible a combination of both: mowing, and then grazing after the aftermath. When choosing a conservation strategy, one should be guided by the goal of conserving maximum biodiversity. This goal is best achieved by combining different modes, each contributing. Currently, the steppes of the reserve are supported by human activities: haymaking with different mowing times and different rotations and grazing of livestock with a moderate load. The hay regime has options: annual mowing, hay rotation with a five-year rotation, when the plot is mowed in a row for four years, and in the fifth year it "rests" to replenish the seed bank in the soil, hay rotation with a ten-year rotation and pasture grazing (nine years of mowing and rest for the tenth year). Immediately after the establishment of the reserve, special experimental areas were also allocated - absolutely protected areas, where there is no mowing or grazing. On the main area of ​​the upland steppe in the Central Chernozem Reserve, a hay-rotation regime is used.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, only mown versions of meadow steppes were presented on the plakors of the Streletskaya and Cossack steppes. It was they who were proposed for conservation as having outstanding characteristics, which are now listed as the main "reference" for the northern steppes. Professor V.V. Alekhine these steppes.

The meadow steppes of the reserve are characterized by a quick change of colors, outstanding species richness and richness of floristic composition, dense herbage, in which several species play a significant role, therefore these steppes are called polydominant. Many species of steppe plants grow here, which outside the reserve have become rare due to the destruction of their habitats and are included in the Red Book of the Kursk region (2001). In the reserve, the populations of these species, as a rule, are quite numerous and reliably preserved. In the steppes of the Streletsky and Cossack areas, such rare steppe plants grow: thin-leaved peony, feather grass, beautiful, narrow-leaved and pubescent, leafless iris, whitish hyacinth, Sumy cornflower, spring adonis, yellow flax, perennial, veined, purple goat.

At the beginning of the last century, the steppes had a distinctly herbaceous character, i.e. in the herbage, dicotyledonous plants predominated, both in terms of their role in aspects and in the number of species, and in terms of weight in hay. Cereals also played a very large, but less noticeable role in the composition of the grass stand compared to forbs. Among cereals, the predominance of species with more or less wide leaves was noted, as well as the predominance of rhizome and loose shrub types (non-root), which, in combination with an abundance of dicotyledons, allowed V.V. Alekhine (1934, p. 28) call the northern steppes steppes of "colorful forbs with broad-leaved grasses."

The northern steppes are characterized by a rapid change of physiognomic pictures (aspects) vegetation associated with the successive flowering of different plant species, which is one of the distinctive properties of meadow-steppe phytocenoses. In the meadows to the north of the forest-steppe zone and in the real steppes to the south of it, the colorfulness of herbaceous communities decreases. The change of aspects in the Streletskaya steppe was first described in 1907 by V.V. Alekhin (1909). Later, this description was included in many popular science, methodological, reference publications to characterize the "classic" picture of colorful changes occurring in the vegetation cover of meadow steppes. "Such a phase change is undoubtedly the result of the adaptation of steppe plants in terms of their placement in different parts of the growing season: each species found a certain place for itself, not being strongly constrained by others and less competing with them" (Alekhin, 1934, p. 23).

After the snow melts, which usually occurs in the steppe at the end of March, the brown background of last year's grass prevails. In mid-April, the first flowering species begin to appear, the most noticeable of which is the open lumbago, or dream-grass with large purple flowers. Almost simultaneously with it, the spring adonis blooms, or adonis. This species is more abundant and, in combination with Siberian grains, forms a bright golden-yellow aspect of the steppe by the beginning of May. Yellow tones continue to dominate in mid-May, but now thanks to the flowering of other species: spring primrose and Russian broom. By this time, young grass is already growing well, creating a fresh green background. Against this background, by the end of May to replace yellow flowers come bright white and purple spots of blooming forest anemone, ranks of milky white and leafless iris. At the beginning of June, the lilac-blue aspect of meadow sage and fine-leaved peas is established, early grasses also bloom: feathergrass feathery and pubescent, feathery oat. By mid-June, the picture becomes very variegated, because at this time, the maximum number of species of forbs and most of the cereals bloom. These are such species as mountain and alpine clovers, common daisy, purple goat, elecampane hard-haired, blood-red geranium, meadowsweet, coastal rump, etc. Later, by the end of June, pink will become the predominant color - this is massively blooming sandy sainfoin; The true bedstraw with yellow honey-smelling inflorescences also plays a significant role. The grass stand reaches the highest height and density, the time for haymaking is approaching. Starting from July, the steppe will noticeably fade, most species fade, the raised grasses obscure the still remaining colors. However, some species only now, in the midst of summer, carry their flowering shoots high, which are clearly visible against the background of the growing straw color of the steppe: Litvinov's larkspur with blue flowers, hellebore black with dark cherry flowers. On unmown areas of the steppe, a straw-brownish background from dying shoots of cereals remains until late autumn. On the mown areas, many species have secondary flowering, some of the plants in favorable years even manage to give a second crop of seeds. All new flowering species can be observed until mid-October. Secondary flowering, however, cannot be compared with the normal one in terms of the richness of colors and the number of flowering plants.

Changes of colorful pictures can vary from year to year: there are “feather grass” years, when from mid-May to mid-June the steppe resembles a swaying silvery sea, and there are years when the feather grass aspect is not at all expressed. Most other species also do not form well-defined aspects every year. The change in aspects over the years is associated, on the one hand, with fluctuations in meteorological conditions, and on the other, with the frequency of flowering inherent in many herbaceous plants. By highlighting certain phases or aspects, we greatly simplify the observed phenomena. In fact, each phase contains dozens of flowering, fading and flowering plants, which in general creates an extremely complex picture. The steppe changes its appearance not only from day to day, but it does not remain unchanged during the day, because some species open their inflorescences in the morning, and with the onset of the hottest time, they close until the next day. These are, for example, plants such as purple goat, oriental goat. Other species open their flowers for only a few hours, and then their petals fall off (perennial and veined flax).

In absolutely protected areas, the development of plants in spring is noticeably delayed due to the large amount of dead plant residues, which contribute to the accumulation of a larger supply of snow, which later melts. Vegetation is significantly inferior in the variety of colors and color saturation to the mown areas of the steppe. Whole line species with bright colors and with large inflorescences avoids unmown areas; here you can rarely find meadow sage, sandy sainfoin, purple goat, blush and many other species, common and abundant in the mown and grazed steppe.

Higher plants can be divided into biomorphs on the basis of general structure, multiplicity of fruiting and life expectancy: trees, shrubs, semi-shrubs and semi-shrubs, perennial grasses, annuals. In terms of the composition of the main biomorphs, meadow steppes are characterized by the dominance of perennial grasses capable of repeated fruiting during their life - these are polycarpics. So, among the main components of the grass stand in the Streletskaya Steppe, their share falls to about 80%. There are very few ephemeroids among them, i.e. plants that have time to bloom and bear fruit in a short spring period, after which their aerial organs die off, and bulbs or tubers remain in the soil: whitish hyacinth, Russian hazel grouse, red goose onion. Such a rapid development of ephemeroids is an adaptation to take advantage of the spring moisture reserves in the soil before it begins to dry out; this life form is represented in the more southerly variants of the steppes much more widely than in the meadow ones, where drought and heat are not so frequent. In second place are perennial and biennial grasses that bear fruit once in a lifetime and die off after that — these are monocarpics; they make up about 10% of the species composition of upland steppes. The role of ephemeral annuals is small both in the number of species and in abundance; there are small amounts of shaggy crumbs, northern breach, ferruginous gerbil and etc . Also, a small role is played by semi-shrubs and semi-shrubs, in which the lower parts of the stems do not die off in winter, these are plants such as Marshall's thyme, some types of wormwood. In the upland steppe, the spread of trees and shrubs is inhibited by mowing. In the absence of mowing (grazing and absolutely reserved regimes), trees and shrubs are represented by a fairly large number of species, moreover, some of them are very numerous (blackthorn, pear, apple, hawthorn, rose hips, etc.).

Steppes are open spaces where strong winds often blow. In such conditions, spreading fruits and seeds with the help of the wind is the most successful way to conquer new territories. In the forest-steppe zone, open areas of grassy vegetation are combined with forest tracts, with thickets of shrubs that prevent the distant dispersal of steppe plants, and there are not so many species among them, the fruits of which are equipped with effective flying devices. Such plants are called anemochores, they primarily include feathery feather grass, the fruits of which (caryopses) are equipped with awns that are up to 40-50 cm long. By the time of ripening, these awns become distinctly feathery, due to which the fruits can be carried by the wind over distances of up to 100 m or more. Such a form of plants as tumbleweed is very interesting; it is represented by a small number of species. In plants of this form, by the time the seeds ripen, the aerial part acquires the shape of a ball, which breaks off at the root collar and rolls in the wind, spreading the seeds along the way. The most striking representative of this form in the Central Black Earth Reserve is the Tatarsky Katran. The steppe slopes on the Bukreevy Barma site, where it grows in considerable abundance, during the period of its mass flowering, are covered with large white balls and look as if a flock of sheep is grazing on them (Photo). Other representatives of this form are multi-stem trinia, an ordinary cutter. In very many species, the flight properties of seeds or fruits are poorly expressed; the role of the wind is reduced to the fact that it only shakes the stems of these plants and thus contributes to seeding. In this case, the seeds fly away from the mother plant by only tens of centimeters (Levina, 1956). The fruits of some species crack when ripe and dry, the seeds are scattered with force around (thin-leaved peas, milky white rank, etc.); such plants are called autochores. The radius of expansion is also measured only in tens of centimeters or the first meters. The spread of seeds and fruits with the help of animals (zoochory) in the steppe apparently plays a subordinate role (Levina, 1965), which, however, increases with the introduction of woody plants with edible fruits for animals into the steppe; richer than others are myrmecohores - plants whose fruits are taken away by ants (fragrant and rocky violets, crested spring, nun).

Due to the high floristic richness, the even distribution of many species and their large abundance, meadow steppes are characterized by an extremely high species and specimen richness. Species, or floristic saturation is the number of species in a certain area. V.V. Alekhin (1935) registered in the Streletskaya Steppe up to 77 species of vascular plants per 1 m 2 and up to 120 species per 100 m 2. “Such saturation of the Streletskaya steppe is completely exceptional and represents a kind of“ Kursk plant anomaly ”(Alekhin, 1934, p. 65). Later, surveys at meter-based sites, carried out by V.N. Golubev (1962a), gave even more striking results. On the six surveyed meters, 87, 80, 61, 77, 80 and 84 species were recorded. Apparently, such a high species richness of vascular plants is not found anywhere else in the temperate zone.

Trying to find an explanation for the “plant Kursk anomaly”, V.V. Alekhine wrote that “a connection between the exceptional richness and antiquity of a given territory may arise, since the Kursk steppes lie on the Central Russian Upland, which was not under a glacier ”(1934, p. 65).

ON. Prozorovsky (1948), objecting V.V. Alekhin, emphasized that the high species richness of the Kursk steppes is explained by a particularly favorable combination of climatic conditions in this zone, and not by the antiquity of the territory that has not experienced glaciation, as evidenced by the gradual change in species richness in the eastern direction, which manifests itself both in the territory of the former and not under the glacier.

G.I. Dohman (1968, p. 97) believed that optimal hydrothermal and edaphic conditions of existence in the forest-steppe lead to maximum saturation with individuals, i.e. to a high specimen saturation, and the high number of species per unit area "should be partly explained by the heterogeneous quality of the microenvironment, which makes it possible for ecologically heterogeneous plant species to settle on a unit area."

A.M. Semenova-Tyan-Shanskaya (1966), who also noted that the species richness of meadow steppes and steppe meadows of the forest-steppe differs from all herbaceous watershed communities of the Russian Plain, she saw the reasons for this phenomenon in the variable nature of moisture, which explains the existence of species of different ecology in small areas : drought-resistant steppe, true meadow and forest-meadow mesophytes, as well as the most typical for the forest-steppe meadow-steppe in a broad sense of the plant.

A.M. Krasnitsky (1983) explained the reasons for the signs of the botanical anomaly in the Streletskaya Steppe by the regime of anthropogenic protection - mowing. However, mowing alone would not lead to such indicators in any natural conditions. The species richness of the Kursk meadow steppes, unique for the Holarctic, can apparently be explained only by the combination of the above-mentioned reasons: natural-historical, physical-geographical and anthropogenic.

Mowing weakens the competitive power of the dominant species because a significant part of the assimilating organs is alienated, this deprives them of their dominant positions in the interception of light. After mowing, new ecological niches are formed, as a result of which such a large number of species of vascular plants can grow together on a small area, while separately the role of each even dominant species is not very high, i.e. the degree of dominance in the mown meadow steppes is low, and the majority of herbage stands are polydominant; the projective cover of dominants, as a rule, does not exceed 10-15, and more often it is at the level of 5-8%.

The richness of the floristic composition and the high species richness of the upland meadow steppe entail a complex vertical structure. The herbaceous layer is characterized by high closeness; uncovered soil can be seen only by the release of mole rats or other smaller rodents. The projective cover of plants can reach 90-100%, on average not less than 70-80%. During the period of its maximum development (June - early August), the herbage is usually subdivided into several substages (different researchers have identified from 4 to 6 substages of the herbage). The layering changes during the growing season: it becomes more complex (the number of substages increases) from early spring to summer and simplifies to autumn. The highest substage, composed of coastal rump, high ryegrass, rough cornflower, woody gill, mealy mullein and other plants in a humid year, exceeds 100 cm.Typical terrestrial layer, consisting mainly of one type of green moss - spruce tuidium, which can cover more than half of the surface soil.

The layering of the stand is accompanied by an underground layering. According to the depth of root penetration, all plants can be divided into three groups: small-rooted (up to 100 cm), medium-root (up to 200 cm) and deep-rooted (over 200 cm). I must say that not all researchers share this point of view. There is also a directly opposite view: in the meadow-steppe communities, there is no real tiered structure in the underground parts of the communities.

The uppermost layer of soil, most densely intertwined by roots, forms a dense sod, which protects the soil well from erosion. The total size of the root layer reaches a record depth of 6 m, and possibly more (Golubev, 1962b). The exceptionally high penetration depth of the roots of meadow steppe plants is determined by the properties of the soil: good aeration and porosity, sufficient moisture in the lower horizons, starting from 1.8 m, deep groundwater, lack of salinity, etc.

The total underground phytomass in meadow steppes exceeds the aboveground one by 2-3 times, the bulk of the roots and rhizomes is in the soil layer 0-50 cm deep. The yield of the aboveground phytomass is subject to significant year-to-year fluctuations. In the total aboveground phytomass, green and dead (rags and litter) parts are distinguished. According to the results of long-term studies in the Streletskaya Steppe, the green part of the aboveground phytomass ranged from 16 to 62 centners / ha under the hay-rotation regime, averaging 32 centners / ha, and the total aboveground phytomass - from 21 to 94 centners / ha, on average - 49 centners / ha. ha. Under an absolutely reserved regime, the green part of the aboveground phytomass varied from 23 to 55 c / ha, averaging 37 c / ha, and the total aboveground phytomass - from 50 to 135 c / ha, an average of 91 c / ha (Sobakinskikh, 2000) ... Thus, under an absolutely reserved regime, the total aboveground phytomass almost doubles, but this increase is mainly due to the dead part.

Over the past century, some changes have occurred in the vegetation of the Streletskaya Steppe. A decrease in the participation of the group of dicotyledonous plants in the structure of grass stands of the meadow steppe, which determined the high color of the meadow steppes at the beginning of the century, was noted. The abundance of broad-leaved grasses has significantly increased, among them the most important role is still played by the coastal rump, but relatively recently, high ryegrass has penetrated into the upland steppes from meadows and forest edges and has won strong positions; its generative shoots can reach a height of 1.3-1.5 m in wet summer. The narrow-leaved bluegrass, fluffy oat, Syreishchikova bent, hedgehog, steppe and meadow timothy are quite abundant.

Of the large-sod grasses, feather grass is the most characteristic and abundant; narrow-leaved and pubescent feather grass are less common; from small sod ones - fescue, fine-legged comb.

In the first half of the last century, a special characteristic feature the meadow steppes were given a high participation of low sedge, the tufts of which were found almost on every square meter. V.V. Alekhine considered her to be an indispensable member of the northern steppes, even wrote about meadow steppes with low sedge sedge. In the second half of the 20th century, its abundance and occurrence decreased markedly in the upland steppes.

The abundance of whitish hyacinth is also reduced. If earlier it was mentioned that this species took part in the formation of aspects along with the adonis and primrose, now it is difficult to count several dozen flowering specimens per hectare.

Until the end of the 1980s, all observers noted the forget-me-not aspect of Popov. S.S. Levitsky (1968) wrote that the mass flowering of forget-me-nots sometimes gives some parts of the steppe such a bright blue color that from a distance these places can be mistaken for water spaces reflecting the sky blue. By now, this species has lost its role in the creation of the aspect and is now observed in the steppe in only a small amount.

While some species reduce their abundance, others increase it. Above, we have already mentioned the massive introduction of high ryegrass, which in the first half of the 20th century was completely uncharacteristic for grass stands of upland steppes. For the second half of the twentieth century, in the Streletskaya steppe, the appearance in places of the aspect of Siberian crumble is characteristic, before that it was known that it was rare in the steppe, only a few clumps were noted. Rough cornflower has also become more widespread.

The horizontal structure of the vegetation cover is complex; the identification of individual communities (phytocenoses) in it presents serious difficulties, since a continuum is characteristic of herbaceous vegetation, i.e. the smooth transition of some communities to others, which is explained by the rather homogeneous environmental conditions on the uplands, the richness of the species composition and the predominance of species with a wide ecological amplitude. However, on the other hand, the meadow steppes are characterized by complexity, due to a well-developed microrelief and the complexity of the soil cover. On microhighs with various outlines, in a circle up to 1 m and more, up to 20-40 cm in height, as a rule, groups with a large participation of dry-loving (xerophilic) plants develop. In small, gentle, rounded depressions, called saucers, more moisture-loving (mesophilic) species are more abundant. The heterogeneity of the vegetation cover is more pronounced under an absolutely reserved regime. For the mown steppe, a uniformly diffuse distribution of most plant species is typical, which leads to a monotonous pattern in the vegetation cover, because mowing is a powerful leveling factor.

The classification of plant communities of meadow steppes is also associated with problems due to the rich species composition, polydominance, and the difficulty of distinguishing between meadow steppes and steppe meadows. Until recently, the predominant ecological-phytocenotic approach to classification, mainly based on the account of dominants. This led to the identification of a large number of small and inexpressive plant associations, often differing only in the ratio of the abundances of the same predominant species, which can vary greatly not only from place to place, but also within the same community from year to year and even within one the growing season.

Recently, the floristic approach has become more and more widely used. Its use for the classification of vegetation of the Streletskaya Steppe allowed us to assign all communities of the upland mown part to one association (Averinova, 2005).

It can be said that now the vegetation of the upland meadow steppes of the reserve is represented mainly by herb-broadleaf-grass communities with a significant participation of dense sod grasses and legumes. Among the forbs, the following species are especially abundant: spring adonis, spring primrose, multiflower buttercup, green strawberry, meadowsweet, meadow sage, Kaufman's mytnik, cornflower rough, bedstraw, common cutter, mountain adorne, etc. Of the legumes, the most noticeable role is played by: clovers mountain and alpine, thin-leaved peas, sandy sainfoin, etc.

Meadow-steppe vegetation is represented not only on the plains of the Streletskaya and Cossack steppes, but also on the slopes of ravines (gullies) of a predominantly southern exposure, where it often has a more steppe character than the upland steppe itself due to the greater aridity of such habitats. On the southern slopes one can find plant groups, which include species that are not found in the upland conditions of these areas and are more xerophilic. The vegetation no longer forms a continuous cover; in some places, the subsoil is exposed. Mainly on the southern slopes, drooping sage and feather grass are confined to, as well as crescent tuberculosis, Russian mordovnik, white broomrape, Siberian istod, chamomile aster, we swing tall and some other plants. It is for the southern slopes that the presence of thickets of steppe shrubs, the so-called woodlands, consisting mainly of steppe cherries, low almonds called leguminous, blackthorns, less often meadowsweet (spirea) Litvinov, and some species of rose hips is typical. In early May, when blackthorn and almond bloom at the same time, some of the slopes become very picturesque thanks to the combination of white, pink and green flowers... Dereza itself (caragana shrub), from which the name of these thickets comes, is currently found on the territory of the reserve only in the Barkalovka area. On the northern slopes, phytocenoses include many mesophilic species, and the vegetation approaches the meadow one. Outside the Central Black Earth Reserve, the remains of steppe vegetation are still preserved precisely on the slopes of ravines and along the steep banks of rivers, i.e. in places inconvenient for plowing.

Meadow-steppe vegetation can be restored in place of arable land, if there are favorable conditions for this: the proximity of virgin steppes, which act as sources of seeds, a suitable relief and soil, the use of haymaking. There are positive examples of such restoration on the territory of several parts of the reserve, but this is not a quick process. If the steppe ecosystem can be destroyed in a matter of hours by plowing, then nature will take decades to restore. So, on the Cossack site there is an old 70-year-old deposit "Dalnee Pole" with an area of ​​290 hectares. On its mown areas, the vegetation is currently represented by meadow-steppe communities, which in their properties and appearance are close to virgin steppes. However, even after such a long period of time, experts note some differences between these restored communities from those that were not subjected to destructive anthropogenic impact. On that part of the Dalnee Pole deposit, where the regime of absolute conservation was practiced, areas of steppe vegetation with well-developed feather grass communities were also restored, but a significant introduction of shrubs and trees, meadow and even forest species has already been noted. On the Bukreevy Barmy site, a 40-year-old deposit with an area of ​​20 hectares is an example of a relatively rapid and successful restoration of feather grass steppes on the slopes of the southern exposure with close to the surface occurrence of chalk deposits. In such arid conditions, the total phytomass decreases, a not so significant layer of litter is formed, and feather grass gains an advantage in comparison with more mesophilic broad-leaved grasses prevailing on uplands (coastal and awnless rump, high ryegrass, meadow timothy, etc.).

Where there are no suitable conditions for natural restoration of the steppe, steppe vegetation can be recreated using specially developed methods. The Zorinsky section became part of the Central Chiry Plant in 1998; more than 200 hectares on it were occupied by former arable lands, which by the time of the establishment of the reserve were gradually overgrown with weed-meadow vegetation, and part of the land was still used for arable land. The possibilities of restoring steppe vegetation here in a natural way were very limited, because very few areas remained where steppe species grew, and the set of these species was rather poor.

To create more favorable conditions for the restoration of steppe vegetation on fallow lands and arable land, in 1999 the staff of the reserve carried out an experiment on 6 hectares to restore the steppes using a grass-seed mixture from the virgin Streletskaya steppe. This mixture was harvested by mowing different areas at several times, so that the seeds of species ripening in different time, and then brought into the experimental area. This recovery method was developed by D.S. Dzybov and received the name of the agrostepe method.

Over the years after the experiment, specimens of more than 80 plant species were discovered, of which there is reason to say that they appeared from the introduced material, including 46 species that were not previously part of the local flora were noted on the experimental area, of which 23 species are rare steppe plants from the list of the Red Data Book of the Kursk region (2001). Such species as coastal rump, fine-legged comb, perennial flax, sandy sainfoin have become quite widespread on the experimental area, they bloom well and bear fruit. The first specimens of feather grass began to enter the generative phase in 2002; by now, there are hundreds of fertile feather grass of feather grass and narrow-leaved feather grass.

In general, we assess the results of this experiment as modest, since it was not possible to achieve a close resemblance of the reconstructed communities to those presented in the Streletskaya Steppe. If in the future the steppe species become entrenched in the plant communities of the Zorinsky site, become their significant components and settle far beyond the experimental area, then the experiment will justify itself.

In 2010, on the Streletsky plot on an area of ​​7 hectares of the former potato field, a new experiment was started to recreate meadow-steppe vegetation: in half of the field, a wide-row sowing of several species of feathery feather grass was carried out; in the future, the aisles are planned to be sown with seeds of steppe forbs. This method was developed by V.I. Danilov and is used to restore the historical appearance of the landscape of the Kulikov field in the Tula region. In the second half, the agrostepe method will be applied again.

The text was prepared by Ph.D. Etc. Filatova

The steppes are the richest in species communities of drought-resistant plants - xerophytes. They are common where the climate is warm, but there is not enough rainfall for the forest to grow. Steppe is "a type of vegetation represented by a community of drought-resistant perennial herbaceous plants dominated by turf grasses, less often sedges and onions." If you analyze the geographical distribution of steppe landscapes on the globe, you will find -

It is believed that the most typical steppes are formed in the interior regions of the continent. The steppe zones of the temperate zones of the northern and southern hemispheres, characterized by a dry climate, treeless watersheds, the dominance of herbaceous, mainly cereal vegetation on chernozem, dark chestnut and chestnut soils.

The area is dominated by steppes, which are altered by pasture digression and represent low-grass communities of pastures dominated by fescue and wormwood. Haymaking variants of the steppe have been preserved in small fragments, among which there are southern, northern and central variants, which represent the transition between the northern and southern. In the steppes of the central variant, if they are not disturbed by grazing, feathergrass-feathery, Zelessky, narrow-leaved are common. In addition, fescue can be found and herbs are very abundant. The steppe also includes shrubs - caragana, spirea, gorse, broom.

In addition to the mountainous steppes, small fragments of the plain have preserved solonetzic steppes, which include Lerha's wormwood, Gmelin's kermek, and pseudo-pyreus. The steppe on gravelly soils is characterized by

the participation of species - petrophytes, i.e., stone lovers - onosma of the simplest, thyme, mine grate, Siberian cornflower and others. Such steppes are especially easily destroyed by pasture digression. Productivity of steppe hayfields - up to 4-5 c / ha

Hay, productivity of steppe pastures as a result of overgrazing is low and does not exceed 15-20 c / ha of green mass

for the entire pasture period. According to the classification, according to the research of Professor B.M. Mirkin , all the steppes of the Republic of Bashkortostan can be divided into two main types - meadow and typical. Meadows are widespread in the forest-steppe zone, and in the steppe zone they tend to the slopes of the northern exposure.

Typical steppes occupy areas in the steppe zone of the republic.

Ball-headed mordovnik

Biennial or perennial herb from the Asteraceae family. Plant height reaches 1.5 m. The stem is single, straight, branchy at the top. It is covered with glandular hairs. Leaves are double pinnately dissected, large, 10 to 25 cm long and 4 to 10 cm wide. Rosette leaves with petiole, the rest are sessile, stalk-embracing. From above they are green, and from below they are covered with white felt, along the edges there are small thorns. The flowers are collected in globular inflorescences, they are bluish-white in color. The spherical heads have a diameter of 4-5cm. Seed fruits. It grows in river valleys, among bushes, on the edges of island forests, in wastelands.

The plant population on the Roman Gora hill is represented by single plants. Occasionally there are "islands" of 5-10 plants. In general, the plants are in good health condition.

Yarrow

Perennial herb from the Asteraceae family. A plant with an erect stem. In RB conditions, its height ranges from 48 to 72 cm. Several shoots of stems depart from a thin creeping rhizome. Basal leaves are lanceolate, doubly pinnate-dissected into narrow small lobules. Stem leaves are shorter, pinnately dissected.

Stem leaves are shorter, pinnately dissected, divided into a large number of lobules. Inflorescence - corymbose, consisting of many flower baskets. The flowers are small, white, mauve or reddish. Blooms in June-August for a very long time.

Grows on a hill everywhere, where there are areas of meadow steppe. It is especially often found on the southern side of the slope in gentle places, where cattle graze more often and closer to the Asly-Udryak river.

Asparagus medicinal

Perennial herb from the lily family. The stem of asparagus is erect, reaching a height of 150 cm, strongly branched. Branches on the stem branch off at an acute angle. The leaves are reduced into scales, modified shoots resembling leaves are formed in the axils of the stem. The underground stem is straight, smooth. It is juicy, etiolated, forming shoots extending from the rhizome. These stems are used as a vegetable plant. The flowers are small, greenish yellow. Perianth of six petals with 6 stamens. The fruit is a red spherical berry. Blooms in June - July. Asparagus grows in meadows, among thickets of bushes, it is also found in the steppe, on the slopes of the mountains.

It is rather rare in the study area. Found in areas adjacent to the forest belt and located between the rows of trees within the forest belt. The population is represented by single plants.

Spring adonis

Perennial herb from the buttercup family. Adonis has a two-stroke development - at the beginning

Early flowering is distinguished, and then the formation of the stem and leaves. It blooms in early spring from late April to May. The bush, which contains up to 20-30 pieces of flowers, blooms from 40 to 50 days. The very first flowers, as a rule, are large, but they are pale yellow, golden, apical, solitary, abundantly visited by bees. At the beginning of flowering, Adonis has a bush height of 10 to 15 cm, and in the fruiting phase it reaches 30-70 cm. Each bush has from 2 to 15 generative and from 4 to 23 vegetative shoots.

It is found everywhere in the study area. The population is made up of more than 150 plants in good health condition.

Ivy budra

A perennial, herbaceous plant from the labiate family. Budra has a creeping and branched stem, it takes root, forming new stems. The leaves are petiolar, opposite, crenate-toothed, rounded reniform. They are covered with hairs. Flowers 3-4 pcs. located in the axils of the middle stem leaves, they are small, two-lipped, violet-blue or bluish-purple in color. Pedicels are 4-5 times shorter than the calyx, equipped with subulate bracts. The calyx is covered with hairs; its teeth are triangular, finely pointed. The height of the rising stems ranges from 10 to 40 cm blooms in May-June.

It grows along the ravine and on the southern side of the slope. Large population, studied during the beginning of flowering.

St. John's wort

Perennial herbaceous plant of the St. John's wort family. Stem is straight, from 45 to 80 cm high, glabrous, with two edges. Leaves are oblong-ovate, whole-edged, opposite, sessile. On the leaves are scattered translucent point containers that resemble holes - hence the name - perforated.

The flowers are numerous, golden-yellow in color, collected in a broad-panicle, almost corymbose inflorescence. Sepals are sharp with a solid edge. The petals are twice as long as the sepal, blooms in June-July. The fruit is a three-celled polyspermous basket, opens with 3 valves. The rhizome is thin, with several stems extending from it.

Found only in one place on the eastern gently sloping side of the hill. Presented by 8-15 plants.

Veronica Dubravnaya

Perennial herb. Keeps shoots green all year round. The leaves are arranged oppositely, in the axils of the raceme of irregular flowers. The flower has 2 stamens and 1 pistil. Veronica's fruit is a flattened box.

Grows in meadow areas of the steppe of the study area. Plants are evenly distributed among other species. Often found on the outskirts of the forest belt.

Awnless bonfire

Belongs to the family of cereals. It has smooth stems reaching one meter in height. The leaves are flat and wide. Spikelets are collected in an inflorescence - a spreading panicle. The fire is a good forage grass, blooms from the end of May to June. Many tall erect shoots of peduncles depart from the creeping rhizome.

In the plant communities of the hill, it is a species forming the environment, since occurs evenly often almost everywhere.

Knotweed

An annual, herbaceous plant from the buckwheat family. A small plant with a height of 10 to 40 cm. It has straight, outstretched, branchy stems. Leaves are elliptical or lanceolate, small, with a short root. The flowers are located in the axils of the leaves, distributed evenly throughout the plant. The corolla of the flower is pale pink. The fruit is a triangular nut. It blooms from May to October. It grows on roads, streets, courtyards, pastures. On pastures, where there is a heavy load of livestock, all types of plants suffer, only knotweed remains.

This species is well expressed at the foot of the hill from the side of the river and animal stalls. Almost never found in the main system.

Common rape

A herbaceous plant from the cruciferous family. Bright green rosettes of the whimsical lyre. Large numbers of pinnately dissected leaves are seen in the fields plowed last fall. Blooms in May-June. With an abundance of sun and moisture, a flowering shoot with a cluster of yellow flowers quickly stretches out from the melted snow. The fruit is polyspermous, opening with two valves. Good honey plant.

It grows irregularly in the vegetation cover of the hill and is found in large quantities from the side of the field located closer to the eastern slope.

Goat purple

Achenes at the base with a hollow, swollen stem, 12 mm long, ribbed, light gray. Stems are straight and ascending, grooved, simple and branching. Basal leaves on long petioles, pinnate and dissected, with narrow linear lateral segments. The baskets are cylindrical, the wrapper is slightly arachnoid, then naked, its leaves are lanceolate, sometimes with a horn-shaped appendage. Flowers are yellow, marginal with outside reddish.

Grows on a hill on the lawns between the trees of the forest belt. It occurs moderately often, the population consists of single plants, which are located at a relatively small distance from each other - from 40 to 60 cm.

Karagana

Belongs to the legume family. Shrub with gray, straight, thin branches, with four contiguous obovate leaves with a wedge-shaped base and spines at the apex; flowers are golden-yellow with a wide obovate sail, blunt boat, 2-3 on single peduncles, which are twice as long as the calyx, beans up to 3 cm long, naked, cylindrical, 1-4 seeds.

It grows mainly on the western slope of the mountain, in a ravine and an adjacent gully on the north side.

Nonya dark

Belongs to the borage family. The whole plant is covered with protruding stiff hairs and sparse glandular hairs. The leaves are oblong-lanceolate, the lower ones are narrowed at the petioles, the rest are sessile, semi-stemming. Bracts lanceolate, longer than flowers, dark red-brown in color. The calyx is bell-shaped, incised to one part. The lobes of the calyx are lanceolate. Nuts are reticulate and wrinkled.

It grows everywhere on the hill, it has been studied and determined at the beginning of flowering.

Bell

Belongs to the bellflower family. The flowers are numerous, in a large, branched inflorescence. The corolla is funnel-shaped, bell-shaped, blue or white. Stem with dense foliage. Leaves are coarsely serrate, glabrous or pubescent.

It grows in the communities of the studied plants between gramineous plants. It is rare, only about 30 plants are counted in the population.

Veronica long-leaved

Belongs to the Norichnik family. Leaves are unequally serrate to the very top with finely pointed,

Simple or base b.h. double serrated, oblong or linear-lanceolate, acute at the base, cordate or rounded, often whorled. Inflorescence is a terminal dense raceme, extending up to 25 cm, sometimes with several lateral racemes; flowers on pedicels, almost equal to the calyx. Corolla blue, about 6 mm. Long, with a hairy tube inside. The whole plant is glabrous or with short grayish pubescence.

The distribution of this plant in the studied ecosystem is moderately rare. Grows in separate plants or 2-3 individuals.

Violet amazing

Belongs to the violet family. Stem up to 30 cm tall. Petioles of large wide-heart-shaped stem leaves are grooved, pubescent only on convex, downward-facing hairs. Stipules of stem leaves are large, whole-edged, pericly large, rusty-red.

On a hill, it grows in places with low grasses or among low grassy cover, loves stony areas of the surface.

Forest anemone

Family of buttercup-Ranunculaceae. Perennial. Stem leaves are not accrete, similar to basal, short-haired. Flowers are yellow-white.

It grows in small "families" between pine rows of trees and separately on open slopes on the eastern and northern sides of the Roman Gora hill.

Field bindweed

Belongs to the bindweed family. Naked or absent-mindedly drooping plant with recumbent, creeping or climbing shoots. Flowers up to 3.5 cm in diameter, usually collected in 2-3 or single. Bracts in the form of a pair of small linear leaves are located oppositely in the middle of the peduncle, do not reach the calyx. The corolla is pink, rarely white.

Grows in plots with others meadow plants from the side of the ravine and the river.

Onosma Preduralskaya

Belongs to the borage family. Pedicels are very short, much shorter than bracts. The whole plant is hard and rough. The stem is straight, simple, less often branched, covered with stiff, spaced bristles and dense fluff. The root leaves are numerous, petiolar, linear, sessile stem, linear-lanceolate.

Loves open, sunny places with rocky soil. Grows in crowded bushes. Very interesting during the flowering period. There are not many plants on the Roman-Gora hill on the summit on the south side. Numerical counts showed about 20 plants.

Plain wormwood

Belongs to the Asteraceae family. The root is upright, woody, developing branched flowering shoots and straight, ribbed, reddening branched flowering stems. Leaves of sterile shoots and lower stems are doubly, three-pinnate, slices narrowly linear, 3-10 mm long, barely pointed, middle and upper stem leaves are sessile, short bracts, narrowly linear. The outer leaves of the envelope are oval, almost round, convex, green along the back, the inner ones are widely scariously bordered along the edge.

Well expressed as a cover plant on the southern slope of the Roman Gora hill. Plants are shorter than normal, indicating oppression by pasture pressure.

The steppe is a flat part of the continents, distributed in the temperate and subtropical zones of the planet's hemisphere. The main feature of the steppes is, in general, the complete absence of woody flora, the entire part of the steppe is covered with grasses, like a carpet. Basically, the carpet is formed by such grasses as bluegrass, thin-legged, sheep, fescue, but the basis remains at all times the feather grass species. Such plants can easily withstand high temperature regimes in summer and unfavorable conditions during the growing season in spring and autumn.

Plants of these families are drought-resistant and actively go through the growing season either in spring, when a large amount of water is in the ground after winter, or in autumn, when the temperature regime decreases. A large percentage of vegetation also includes bulbous plants. Plants of the Liliaceae family quickly pass through the growing season, and by the arrival of a hot summer, I accumulate all the necessary elements for wintering in the bulb. These types include Tulip, Double-leaved Proleska, Snowdrop, Cockerel, etc. But the steppe does not have the same carpet of herbs everywhere.

Depending on the grasses, the steppe is divided into five types:

• Cryoxerophilic (mountain steppes such as the Caucasus and Crimea);
• Mesoxeroyl (forb steppes, most of the European
• Xerophilic (Kovilnye steppes, an example is the steppes of the southern part of the Orenburg region);
• Haloxerophilic (desertification, example of the Kalmyk steppe);
• Superxerophilous (desert, southern part of the Kalmyk steppes);

Most of different types steppes are located on the borders of forest-steppes and semi-deserts. The flora of these parts of the Earth is mainly represented by the families of Cereals, which grow in bundles, forming gaps between themselves. Bare soil is visible between such gaps. The most frequent inhabitants of steppe plants are nevertheless different types feather grass. Common types of feather grass: feather grass, Tyrsa, the most beautiful, Zalessky feather grass. These species very often cover most of the steppe.

Moreover, depending on the type of steppe, the same type of feather grass has different sizes. So, for example, on fat steppes, it reaches large sizes and covers huge areas, and on dry, they are also called barren, steppes, it has a small size and occupies a relatively small area. In second place after feather grass is the Tonkonog, but not one species, but a whole family of Tonkonogs. They are widespread throughout the steppe and serve as an excellent food for feeding sheep.

Typical species of the Tonkonog family are: Altai tonkonog, cranked, askold, short, dubious, Caucasian, gray, Karavaeva, Litvinova, lobed, one-flowered, stiff-leaved, glossy, pyramidal, half-naked, Scriabin, Tona. The grass of the steppe carries such species as: thyme, zopnik, veronica, steppe alfalfa, licorice, kermek, twig or izeng, different types of wormwood, steppe onion, adonis, iris, ephedra, gerbil. A large number of spirea, Tatar honeysuckle, caragana, cherries, legumes. But all the same, the stock of vegetation for grazing livestock is much less in the steppe than the same area of ​​the forest zone.

All plants of the steppe zones are not distinguished by outstanding colors. Usually they are gray, blue-green shades, the leaves, if any, are small, covered with thick cuticles to reduce evaporation. But often the protection against transpiration is the ability to roll its leaves during dry periods. Among the weeds of the steppe, plants with special economic value are also distinguished, as already mentioned above, they are called fodder flora. But for humans, melliferous and medicinal herbs are no less important. Thus, the flora of the steppe zone has different advantages, but also its disadvantages in the small diversity of flora biota.