Flower tours of Kazakhstan.

“How heavy the oppression of the moon-faced! I'm exhausted.
Tulip brand burn on the heart: lay down.
But if tomorrow beauties beckon again,
Once again, I can not wipe the embarrassment from my cheeks.»

Baba Tahir. "Both heaven and earth..." End of X – XI centuries.

Photo travel in Kazakhstan.

Tulipa iliensis Regel. 10 - 30 см height, 1 - 2 см depth, with thin-skinned, black-brown inside, mainly at the apex and at the base adpressed by hairy tunics. Stem id glabrous or upper part of stem is pubescent; leaves 3 - 4 in number, straddled, deflexed, rarely reclinated, glabrous or the upper is sometimes pubescent, usually not exceeding the flower, the lower leaf is nearly lorate or linear-lanceolate,  0,7 - 1,5 cm wide.
One flower; perianth lobes are yellow, 2,5 - 3,5 cm long, acute or acuminate, with tints of violet or green on the outside, ecliptic-rhombic, the inner are oboblong.
Stamens are 2 - 2,5 shorter than perianth, slightly extended in the middle and gradually narrowed toward the both ends, yellow, anthers 1,5 times longer than filaments, yellow; ovary 1,5 times shorter than stamens, with nearly sessile stigma.
Flowering time in the end of April – May. Distribution in Kazakhstan: Endemic, grows among bushes. Occurs in Ketmen-Terskei Alatau.
The general distribution - Dzungaria (upper course of the Ili River). Species congenial with Т. Ferganica, Т. Kolpakovskiana and T. tetraphylla.

Authority
“Tulips of Kazakhstan”. Almaty, LTD “Almatykitap baspasy”. 2010, 272 p. Illustrated.

Photos by
Alexander Petrov.