Checklist of the flora of Mirzachul (Hungry Steppe)

The Hungry Steppe (Mirzachul) is located on the left bank of the Syrdarya River in its middle reaches, between the throat of the Fergana valley, the desert Kyzylkum and foothills of Turkestan and Malguzar ranges (between 41°05’N 68°03’E and 40°11’N 69°18’E). This is an alluvial-proluvial plain with an area of about 10,000 km2, elevations of 230-360 m a.s.l. and nearly flat to slightly inclined terrain. According to the Köppen climate classification, the climate is cold semi-arid (BSk) characterized by hot and dry summers and mild winters with moderate frost. According to the scheme of phytochoria of Uzbekistan, this area belongs to Mirzachul phytogeographical region of the Middle Syrdarya district of Turan province (Tojibaev et al., 2017). The Hungry Steppe (Mirzachul) includes the entire Syrdarya Region and the northeastern part of the Jizzakh Region of Uzbekistan, and the southeastern part of the Turkestan (formerly South Kazakhstan) Region of Kazakhstan. Mirzachul is one of the regions of Central Asia most strongly transformed by human activity. The checklist of the flora of Mirzachul was compiled by the Institute of Botany of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan within the framework of inventory of the flora of Syrdarya and Jizzakh regions. The checklist is based on published data, field surveys and revision of herbarium specimens stored in the National Herbarium of Uzbekistan (TASH). It includes 932 species of vascular plants. In the past, the Hungry Steppe was an almost waterless clayey piedmont desert with fragments of sandy desert and several saline depressions. In the 1960s, the Hungry Steppe was developed for agriculture as a result of a large-scale irrigation program, and natural habitats of this region were almost totally transformed. Currently, the plain of Mirzachul is dissected by a network of irrigation and drainage channels and occupied with croplands, fallow lands, orchards and settlements. Only small patches of natural ecosystems of clayey and sandy desert, saline lands, wetlands and riparian (tugay) vegetation remain in this region. In this connection, synanthropic species account for almost 40% of the flora, and over 10% of the flora are alien species. At least 28–30 species that were recorded in the Hungry Steppe in the past, before their agricultural development, have now disappeared from this region due to habitat loss.