Tulipa salsola Ruksans & Zubov

Tulipa salsola Rukšāns & Zubov, Int. Rock Gard. 148: 11 (2022). Fig. 37 Type. Kazakhstan • Zhetysu region, the extreme southern part of Dzungarian Alatau (44 ° 10 ' N, 79 ° 31 ' E); sandy, saline soils within semi-desert habitat, c. 880 m. a. s. l.; leg. 05 May 2012, Rukšāns; cult. (12 KZ- 059 specimen grown in J. Rukšāns garden, Latvia), fl. 11 Apr. 2021, Rukšāns (holotype GB). General distribution. Endemic to Kazakhstan (Kubentayev et al. 2024). Distribution in Kazakhstan and habitat. Dzungarian Alatau, and Trans-Ili Kungey Alatau. This species grows on fixed and hilly-ridged sands over brown and gray-brown soils, in depressions of takyrs and solonchaks with Saxaul. Conservation status. The IUCN conservation status of this species requires assessment. Phenology. Flowering in March – April; fruiting in May – June. Notes. Tulipa salsola was described relatively recently in 2022 from the southern part of Dungarian Alatau, Zhetysuyskaya Oblast, Kazakhstan. It is morphologically similar to T. kolbintsevii but differs by the presence of 2 (– 3) flowers, an adaxially strongly woolly bulb tunic, absent elongated bulb tunic, and stamens shorter or equal to the ovary (vs. one flower, naked on the neck with some hairs on the bulb tunic adaxially, elongated bulb tunic, and stamens longer than the ovary in T. kolbintsevii) (Rukšāns and Zubov 2022).