In Syunt-Hasardag is discovered a new kind of wild pear for Turkmenistan

Pear cultivated since time immemorial, it was known in ancient Greece for a thousand years before our era. Currently, there are seventy varieties of garden pears, which belongs to the family of rose family. 

We have four types of pears. In the wild, it looks like tree-like branched shrubs with small fruits. It is a rare endemic pear Turkmen, found in the gorges of the Sumbar valley, pear Buasie - endemic of Kopetdag and Syunt-Hasardag, as well as Regel's pear, unlike its counterparts, it is densely covered with thorns. It grows in Koytendag, still marked in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and China. Everyone knows the cultivated ordinary pear, many varieties of which are grown by Turkmen gardeners. However, it can also be found in the wild form in the gorges of the South-Western Kopetdag, as well as in northern Iran. Last year, during the botanical research and floristic revision of the ridge of Syunt-Hasardag was discovered a new species of wild pear by Turkmen botanists. 

The find was recorded on the crest, at an altitude of 1580 m above sea level, two kilometers east of the top of Khasar Mountain, near the sacred place "Mezitli Baba". Hiking here takes at least three hours, which makes it difficult for researchers to visit these places. The route to a small population of wild pear ran along paths through picturesque thickets of shrubs that are replaced on the gentle top by a mountain steppe with a high grass stand. The rich herbage here is distinguished by species diversity. In this beautiful place of nature was discovered a small grove of a new plant for the flora of our country According to the morphology of the leaves and the totality of other signs, the species corresponds to the pear-tree, which was not found in the Turkmen nature before. The long narrow-lanceolate leaves are a feature of the plant are (up to nine centimeters). In appearance, wild pears resembled shrubs, the height of some reached three meters. 

The plant communities of the Mediterranean, Western Asia and the Caucasus, Azerbaijan, Turkey and western Iran knew the pear-tree until today. The discovery of this species in our country is the first case for Central Asia, which once again proves that the Kopetdag is the northern outskirts of the distribution range of the Mediterranean flora. Visual assessment of the population showed that in our arid climate the species feels well enough, since the plant is unpretentious and resistant to diseases. Pear-tree in many countries successfully develops arid places, settles on stony plains, slopes of mountains and hills, therefore it is used as a drought-resistant rootstock for cultivars. Thanks to useful economic features, a new type of pear can be used in forestry farms of our country. 

Many natural landscapes of Kopetdag, Koytendag and Sint-Hasardag undoubtedly have many discoveries for science. Therefore, botanists periodically conduct species-specific flora records that allow to identify new species or to identify extinct species. Each such plant is not only a subject of interest of researchers, but also makes an invaluable gene pool of Turkmen vegetation.