Continental temperate dry steppe grasslands of the semi-desert transitional zone of the Don, Lower Volga and Ural River valleys and Northern Kazakhstan
Tanaceto achilleifolii-Stipetalia lessingianae Lysenko et Mucina in Mucina et al. 2016
Tanaceto achilleifolii-Stipetalia lessingianae Lysenko et Mucina in Mucina et al. 2016
fes13 | So far, the Eurasian continental steppes were classified within two orders, the Festucetalia valesiacae and the Helictotricho-Stipetalia. The dry steppes showing transitional character towards semi-desert vegetation of southwestern Europe and Northern Kazakhstan remained a syntaxonomic problem until Royer (1991: 29−31) described Tanaceto-Stipenalia lessingianae nom. inval. (suborder) and classified this syntaxon within the Helictoticho-Stipetalia Toman 1969. We consider this vegetation (based on our preliminary syntaxonomic synthesis – Lysenko & Mucina, in prep.) as vegetation deserving the rank of an order that we describe here formally by designating the Tanaceto achilleifolii-Stipion lessingianae (see Remark fes14 below) as the holotypus (hoc loco) of the new order. Diagnostic species of the new order are: Artemisia lerchiana, A. santonica, Bassia prostrata, Koeleria macrantha, Stipa korshinskyi, S. lessingiana, S. sareptana, Tanacetum achilleifolium and T. santolina. (T. Lysenko, L. Mucina).