Preservation of ex-situ gene pool of rare medicinal plant species in Kazakhstan

Abstract

The approved “List of Medicinal Plants” consists of 278 medicinal plants used in official or traditional medicine. At the same time, 65 species have been listed in the Red Book of Kazakhstan. In the experimental medicinal plant collections located in the foothills of Zailiyskiy Alatau (in the Main Botanical Garden, Almaty), a total of 48 (74%) are indigenous medicinal herbs of Kazakhstan’s flora were grown over different years. A significant number of rare medicinal plant species of Kazakhstan (37 species), which is more than half of all tested ones, can be successfully grown. Eight of them are blooming and bearing fruit regularly and tree crops give real yields. Thirteen species of trees and shrubs have high adaptive abilities and were introduced at the expositions of the botanical garden. Sixteen species could bloom but not all of them produced seeds consistently. Introduction of 13 species are very difficult or unsuccessful, 17 species (26%) of the medicinal flora have not been tested in culture, mainly due to the known futility of cultivation in the open ground.