Roemeria refracta DC. (Papaveraceae) - new adventitious species of the Siberian flora.

The Southern Trans-Urals is a flat area covering the south-western, predominantly steppe sector of the West Siberian lowland in Kurgan region borders and surrounding areas of the neighboring regions of Russia and Kazakhstan. The part of alien species in the Southern Trans-Ural region comprises more than 18% of the whole flora. In the last 15 years, 30 species never reported for the territory before have been found.The rare adventitious plant Roemeria refracta DC. (Papaveraceae), taxon belonging to Iran and Central Asia type of areal, was first recorded in Kurgan province (55 ° 43'20, 7 "N, 64 ° 38'25, 5" E) in summer 2011.The areal of R. refracta covers desert and steppe regions of Iran and Central Asia, Caucasus, Eastern Transcaucasia and Dagestan (locus classicus). In the southwestern part it reaches the Mediterranean region (Lebanon and Syria), in the east - Mongolia. In the main areal the form is confined to dry rocky slopes, ruderal habitats, and fields. In the Caucasus, R. refracta is a relict xerothermic taxon of an early Holocene phase, which needs to be protected and included to the regional "Red Book" of Stavropol Territory and Ingushetia. R. refracta begins penetration to the north as a rare adventive plant along road sides: it has been recorded in Moscow and Ivanovo regions of Central Russia, in St. Petersburg, on the territory of Belarus and nearby Kiev in Ukraine.The wide inspection of different herbarium collections and data published has shown that this species had not been described for Siberia, the Urals and the Trans-Urals before. However, the resemblance of R. refracta with two other species (Papaver rhoeas and Glaucium corniculatum) introduced to the area could lead to confusing omissions in determining species for collections. Since lots of keys and checklists in regional Floras determine R. refracta incorrectly, we give a brief morphologicalcharacteristic and suggest a dichotomous key to genera of Papaveraceae family for Trans-Urals Flora.The adventitious flora of the Southern Trans-Urals and the Southern Urals includes 7 species of the family Papaveraceae, one of which (Chelidonium majus) has been widely scattered across secondary habitats and forest communities in recent decades. It includes three species which are widely cultivated, but rarely recorded as departing from the culture (Eschscholzia californica, Papaver pseudoorientale, P. somniferum) and one species (P. rhoeas) is distributed partially as a spontaneous alien plant, partially derived from the culture. The rarest ruderal poppy, Glaucium corniculatum, has been recorded in the Volga region, the Southern Urals and the south of the Altai Territory along with a new species for the Southern Trans-Urals region, R. refracta.The collected herbarium of species is stored in the collection of the Laboratory "Herbarium and Botanical Museum" at Kurgan State University.

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