CROP WILD RELATIVES

Beautiful Vavilovia [Vavilovia formosa (Stev.) Fed.] is a perennial legume of great importance for the evolution and taxonomy of the tribe Fabeae Rchb. The abundant data on its collection sites on the Caucasus Mountains, made during the past two centuries, were collated and analysed. The studied area covers the mountain ranges of both the Greater and Lesser Caucasus in Russian Federation, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, except the ranges in north-eastern and eastern Turkey and north-western Iran. The presented data are the results of an analysis of the herbarium collections of various institutions and available literature resources, providing novel information about 110 collection points. The analysed data allowed to specify the borders of the area in the region, as well as describe the features of the high-altitude distribution of V. formosa within the studied area, revealing the lower and upper altitude ranges as between 2021 and 3500 m above sea level. The results also indicate a reduction of the number of its populations, as well as the necessity and urgency of monitoring and protecting all the known locations of this highly endangered species.