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You can experience the whole special features of Kamchatka’s flora at just one place: the Bystrinsky Nature Park!
Half of the plants are on the red list of Russia and therefore enjoy a special status of protection. The fact, that many different natural circumstances like tundra and taiga
are encountered here (mountains, rivers, lakes and many frost depending geomorphologic processes) causes a
high number of plants and variety of their composition.
Forest (usual taiga) covers a big area.
Larch (Larix dahurica) forests are mostly found in lower regions and shady places. They are full of Ericaceae like blue berries and cranberries and invite you from August to September to
collect them - if you have the chance, try them,
they are very tasty!
You can find birch forests containing white birch (Betula platyphylla) and stone birch (Betula ermanii) between 700 and 1000m
above sea level. The trees have a big distance between each other
which makes the forest quite bright. This light is used by meadow plants and tundra
plants (Veratrum oxysepalum, Pleurospermum uralense and Filipendula kamtschatika).
Rivers are surrounded by high poplars (especially Populus suaveolens) and willows.
Following the floods in
the early summer you
find a big variety of plants in low
areas. The river banks are the home of the wonderful Parnassia palustris and Polemonium acutiflorum. In rivers
and brooks you find Ranunculus trichophyllus.
In smaller brooks in the Bystrinsky Nature Park
and only here grows Ranunculus hyperboreus which
has adapted itself
to the climatic circumstances.
The lakes are fantastically clear and pure. They offer many plants which need clear water and have been pushed out
of other regions as a
consequence of landscape
cultivation a place for living. Many representatives of the Potamogeton, also Hippaceae and Sparganitium, are
part of these.
The bogs are very interesting and
multifaceted. Most of them are Sphagnum bogs. Sphagnum magellanicum can
colour a whole bog red. The
huge diversity of mosses in the bogs is only excelled by the diversity of vascular plants.
In one bog more than ten different types of sedges can be
encountered. Carex rhynchophysa
can be spotted very frequently.
In addition wool grass
forms big lawns. Wool grass loves places with few nutrients
- so perfect conditions
for them to exist for them.
Various geomorphological processes
caused a big number of small
hillls throughout
the landscape which have their own vegetation, for example Galium verum which
on Kamtchatka only
grows in our park.
Raspberry and currants are
widespread and in late summer you can collect berries. Allium strictum and Artemisia borealis also live here.
Ususally next to them you find Spiraea sericea.
Meadows are
a paradise for plants and grant a fantastic herbal vegitation. Senecio cannabifolium
for example might reach a hight up to 2.50 m and is easy to identify by its leaves. Iris setosa is
another typical plant of our park - more than 20 plants
may be situated on
one square meter. Furthermore sorts like Pleurospermum uralense and the beautiful Sanguisorba tenuifolia
are widespread. In Summer, especially in July, the meadows are blue
because of the flowers of Geranium eriathum.
We have a
very good message for friends of mosses and lichens: the nature here is your
paradise!
Many mosses occur in our park- in some regions more than 20
per square meter. You
will spot Polytrichum pillosum very
frequently at stony places. Pleurozium schreberi
is often found in larch forests.
The river banks are covered with Climatium dendroides. In the
tundra, especially in areas without any bushes and trees many exotic types of Sphagnum and other Musci
have their home. Reindeer lichens are present
in all types that
exist in Kamchatka. Leaf lichens like to
grow near rivers and in birch forests.
Friends of plants: The Bystrinsky Nature Park
offers you a huge variety of plants to explore.
We invite you to botanic excursions and are
currently working on a botanic path, which will be ready
soon.
Please keep in mind that other visitiors would also like to enjoy
the unique flora in our park, so please, do not eradicate plants
and do not take any plants with you!
We hope you have fun while discovering our nature.
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