Vol 109, No 3 (2024)

Twenty-four species of diatoms belonging to 14 genera, 12 families and 5 orders were identified from soils and pyroclastic deposits of the Gorely, Mutnovsky, Avachinsky, Koryaksky and Vilyuchinsky volcanoes (Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia). Two species of these (Nupela tenuicephala, Pinnularia bullacostae) are new to the flora of the Kamchatka Peninsula, three ones (Eunotia palatina, Neidium bergii, Stauroneis borrichii) to the Russian Far East, and another three (Psammothidium lacustre, Humidophila sceppacuerciae, Gomphonema reichardtii) to the flora of Russia. Three revealed taxa (Navicula sp., Chamaepinnularia sp., and Pinnularia sp.) are probably new to science, as their morphological and morphometric characteristics differ from those of previously described species.

The local flora of vascular plants of Mayorsky Mountain Massif of Susunay Ridge in the southern part of Sakhalin Island contains 230 species from 171 genera and 71 families. For the first time, 50 species are listed for the massif. The flora of serpentinite outcrops is especially specific. Plant communities on the serpentinites are dominated by species with wide geographical areas (circumpolar, Eurasian, Asian and East Asian), whose share is more than 70% of the total local flora, which is a reflection of the geological past in the process of the alpine flora formation on Sakhalin Island. There are 64 species concentrated on an area of about 0.4 ha (Bistorta pacifica, Leontopodium discolor, Malaxis monophyllos, Rubus pedatus, Thesium refractum, Tofieldia coccinea and others), of which three species (Carex capillaris, Cerastium sugawarae and Pedicularis chamissonis) are found nowhere else on Sakhalin. The nearest localities of isolated populations of subalpine and alpine species on serpentinite outcrops (Carex melanocarpa, Loiseleuria procumbens, Rhododendron parvifolium, Scirpus maximowiczii) are in the northern part of Sakhalin or in the Northern Japan. Mayorskaya Mt. is the locus classicus of Poa sugawarae and Cerastium sugawarae. An annotated checklist of vascular plants is given. The modern flora of Mayorsky Massif is a reflection of paleogeographical history and climate fluctuations.

The site of Dyusembay is located on the left bank of the Uly-Zhilanshik River of Dzhangeldy District of Kostanay Region, Central Kazakhstan. Here we present original palinologycal data for the most complete identification of the taxonomic composition of the flora and its ecological features aimed to the reconstruction of the vegetation of the surrounding area. The age of the studied deposits has been estimated as Late Oligocene. Eocene age is not supported since there are almost no evergreen elements in the composition, with the exception of Ilex and possibly Magnolia. The taxonomic composition of the flora indicates that the vegetation looked like a typical Turgay flora represented by warm-temperate coniferous and broad-leaved forests.

Information on alien vascular plants Anaphalis margaritacea, Aruncus dioicus, Cardamine flexuosa, Digitaria sanguinalis, Phedimus spurius, Saxifraga × urbium, Scilla luciliae, and Solanum villosum recorded in the Republic of Karelia for the first time is provided.

Biographical information about Peter Zakharovich Bosek (1909–1993), a famous Bryansk botanist and florist, is presented. His book "Plants of the Bryansk region: A reference guide" (Tula, 1975, 463 p.) remains the only regional summary so far.

Olga Vladimirovna Tscherneva (1929–2023) was the oldest research worker of the Komarov Botanical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the last of the authors of the “Flora of the USSR”, the long-term curator of the Central Asian sector of the Department of Herbarium of Higher Plants of the Komarov Botanical Institute RAS, the monographer of the most complicated genus Cousinia Cass. (Asteraceae), an authoritative expert on many genera of the family Asteraceae, a recognized expert in the international community of botanists and taxonomists. O.V. Tscherneva personified the continuity of different generations of botanists, as well as the traditions of the Tashkent school of taxonomy.