Red Book plants of Kazakhstan: 387 listed species

Kazakhstan’s legal list of rare plants is part of Government Decree No. 1034 and has 387 entries. Flowering plants account for 364 of them. The other 23 are ferns, clubmosses, conifers, mosses, 13 fungi and one lichen. The plant list dates from 2012, while the animal list was updated in 2026, so keep the years apart when comparing them.

Plants you may recognise

No.	Plant	Scientific name	Note
5	Schrenk’s spruce	Picea schrenkiana f. prostrata	Only the creeping form is listed
8	Sacred lotus	Nelumbo nucifera
113–114	Wild apples	Malus niedzwetzkyana, M. sieversii	Sievers apple grows on the Almaty foothills
117	Wild apricot	Armeniaca vulgaris
165	Pistachio	Pistacia vera
213	Sogdian ash	Fraxinus sogdiana	Charyn’s relict grove
317	Greig’s tulip	Tulipa greigii	One of 18 listed tulips
352	Lady’s slipper orchid	Cypripedium calceolus

What this means if you are writing about it: name the species and cite the decree number. Popular articles often repeat figures that the list does not support.

Two details people get wrong

The tall Schrenk’s spruce of the Tien Shan is not what the entry covers: the decree names its creeping form. And the red poppies that cover the southern steppe each May are other species. The only poppy on the list is Papaver tenellum.

Where to see them

Flowering dates shift with altitude and weather, so treat this as a guide only.

Plant	Where	When
Greig’s and Kaufmann’s tulips	Aksu-Zhabagly	Early to mid spring, by arrangement
Schrenk’s tulip, Volga adonis	Korgalzhyn	Spring, on routes
Sievers apple	Foothills of Ile-Alatau	Late April to early May
Sogdian ash	Charyn ash grove	All year, golden in autumn

Leave everything where it grows. Plan by season with the nature calendar.

Not verified yet

We found no confirmation that the plant list has been revised since 2012.

Frequently asked questions

Is the wild apple protected in Kazakhstan?

Yes. Malus sieversii is number 114 on the list in Decree No. 1034, and Malus niedzwetzkyana is number 113.

How many tulips are on the list?

Eighteen, numbered 314 to 331. Other sources give higher figures, but the decree is the legal text.

Can I pick wild flowers in Kazakhstan?

Do not pick listed species. Article 339 of the Criminal Code covers illegal collection and destruction of rare plants, and collecting any plant is banned inside a strict reserve.