Bunias orientalis L. 1753

Sennikov, Alexander N. & Lazkov, Georgy A., 2021, The first checklist of alien vascular plants of Kyrgyzstan, with new records and critical evaluation of earlier data. Contribution 1, Biodiversity Data Journal 9, pp. 75590-75590 : 75590

Bunias orientalis L. 1753

Bunias orientalis L., Sp. Pl. 2: 670 (1753).

Distribution

Native distribution

Eastern Europe (southern parts up to the boreal zone), Asia (Western Caucasus, Transcaucasia, eastern Anatolia). Two main parts of the distribution area, Eastern Europe and the Caucasus, correspond to two main gene pools ( Koch et al. 2017). The hypothesis of its non-native origin in Europe ( Meusel and Jäger 1965) should, therefore, be rejected.

Secondary distribution

Neophyte and archaeophyte in Europe (outside its south-eastern part) and Northern Asia, neophyte in Central Asia, China and North America.

Since the 19th century, the species has been dispersed throughout other parts of Europe and, since the 20th century, also in Asia. Its early introduction to France was frequently ascribed to military activities of the Russian army during the War of the Sixth Coalition (1813-1814); this legendary report first appeared in an early German textbook ( Endlicher and Unger 1843), was subsequently promoted in popular literature ( Rachinsky 1866) and finally entered academic writing ( Klinge 1887). According to the original source ( Loiseleur Deslongchamps 1807), the plant was actually naturalised from "garden" (i.e. experimental) cultivation in three places near Paris well before the War. Its earliest introductions to Europe seem to have been regularly linked with its cultivation for fodder or salad ( Curtis 1812, Sinclair 1825, Lawson and Lawson 1836), which was followed by a massive invasion with imported crop seeds and fodder (e.g. Suominen 1979, Pyšek et al. 2017). The species became a noxious weed and invasive in Northern Europe (Scandinavia and Finland) already in the second part of the 19th century (e.g. Fries 1845, Woll 1899). Its recent spread in Europe is linked with transportation of contaminated grain and fodder in the second part of the 20th century ( Jehlík and Slavík 1968, Jehlík and Hejný 1974, Suominen 1979), and its local dispersal may occur by vehicles ( Kiełtyk 2014).

Besides the history of introduction in the modern period (neophyte records), archaeological evidence indicates that Bunias orientalis was cultivated in Europe (Poland) as early as in the 12th and 13th centuries, most likely for food and fodder, and may remain locally surviving since then ( Celka 2011).

Distribution in Central Asia

Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan.

This species was originally introduced to Central Asia (eastern Kazakhstan) and southern Siberia as food by nomadic Turkic people over 2300-2400 years ago ( Dashkovsky et al. 2014), but this introduction had been eventually extirpated as no early botanical records indicated the presence of this species more easterly from the south-eastern Urals ( Ledebour 1841). The first recent record of the species more easterly of the Urals, in southern Siberia, is dated 1912 ( Krylov 1931); the plants were collected as crop weeds and along roadsides, and the species was apparently introduced as a crop seed contaminant when the agrarian colonisation of Siberia was intensified by the Department of Migrations (1896-1917). This introduction occurred from East European populations of the species ( Koch et al. 2017).

Bunias orientalis was first known from Kazakhstan (as ruderal in the eastern and south-eastern parts and in the Transili Alatau) ( Vasilieva 1961, Vasilieva 1969, Nabiev 1974). This distribution pattern (several records in the easternmost hilly part of the country and single records in the mountains) is still valid ( Plantarium 2021). According to herbarium collections kept at LE, the first specimen of the species was collected from Kazakhstan in 1960, but its first records are apparently earlier.

The species was introduced to Uzbekistan (Tashkent Region, Boʻstonliq District) from Eastern Europe and was found locally established already in 1973 ( Koch et al. 2017), but this record remained formally unpublished and was not taken into account in any other literature.

We discovered this species in Kyrgyzstan in 2009, for the first time in the Sary-Chelek Nature Reserve ( Lazkov et al. 2011). One more locality was found in 2021.

Distribution in Kyrgyzstan

Western Tian-Shan, Eastern Tian-Shan (new record) (Fig. 3 ).

So far, the species is known from two remote territories. In the Sary-Chelek Nature Reserve, it was first discovered ( Lazkov et al. 2011) as a large population along the side of the road leading from Arkyt Village to Lake Sary-Chelek (Fig. 4 ). Since 2018, the species was registered also in Arkyt Village, to which it was transported with hay from managed meadows (Lazkov, pers. obs.).

In 2021, a large population of Bunias orientalis was found at Acha-Kayyingdy Village (At-Bashy Mountain Range), on a fallow field with ruderal vegetation. Its further occurrence in the country can be predicted on cultivated lands.

In Kyrgyzstan, the species occurs at elevations between 1800 and 2200 m, which are suitable for crop and forage production and correspond to altitudes in the native distribution area of the species.

Ecology

Mountain meadows at altitudes up to 2500 m in the native area; managed and natural meadows, fallow lands, pastures, ruderal places and roadsides with preference for disturbed ground in the secondary area.

The species has been a common weed of spring crops in Eastern Europe ( Jarmolenko and Vasilchenko 1934) and was considered a common contaminant of crop seed and a noxious weed in Finland ( Woll 1899) and Sweden ( Fries 1845) already by the mid-19th century, due to the import of Russian rye.

Biology

Perennial forb with biennial stems and a strong taproot. Promoted by disturbance and moving, with very high generative effort ( Steinlein et al. 1996, Woitke and Dietz 2002).

Introduction to Kyrgyzstan

Period of introduction

Neophyte.

The first record is dated 2009 ( Lazkov et al. 2011). We feel confident that this conspicuous species was not overlooked in the times of the Soviet botanical exploration (especially considering that its first record came from the most actively explored area) and had arrived during the period of the independence of Kyrgyzstan (since 1991).

Pathways of introduction

Transport - Contaminant: Seed contaminant. Transport - Contaminant: Contaminated bait.

According to the publicly available information (calls for tenders), the Sary-Chelek Nature Reserve regularly (nowadays twice a year) purchases considerable amounts of fodder to feed wild animals. This fodder has been imported from Russia, where Bunias orientalis is a common weed and distributed for animal consumption across the territory of the Nature Reserve. Further dispersal occurred by hay management.

In the second locality at Acha-Kayyingdy, the species was apparently a crop weed, thus being a contaminant of crop seed.

Invasion status

Locally naturalised, potentially invasive.

Evidence of impact

Agriculture - moderate impact (weed of fallow fields and managed meadows; limited occurrence). Native ecosystems - minor impact (on managed meadows). Urban areas - minor impact (occurrence in ruderal places and on roadsides).

Trend

Increasing (observed).

Figures

Figure 3. Distribution of Bidens tinctoria (triangle) and Bunias orientalis (dots) in Kyrgyzstan.

Figure 4. Plants of Bunias orientalis in the Sary-Chelek Nature Reserve (photo by G. Lazkov, 8 July 2021).