Plants of the red data book of Russia in the Avrorin Polar-Alpine Botanical Garden-Institute

The collection nurseries of N.A. Avrorin Polar-Alpine Botanical Garden-Institute (PABGI) of the Kola Science Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences play an important role in preserving the gene pool of rare protected plants. They are located within the Arctic Circle on the Kola Peninsula in the botanical garden in Kirovsk town and on the experimental area in Apatity town. During more than 90-year history of PABGI, 800 samples of 104 protected species of vascular plants listed in the new edition of the Red Data Book of the Russian Federation were planted. Currently, 127 samples of 26 species are cultivated. For 90 species, the resistance to local conditions under cultivation has been assessed: 6% are highly resistant, 46% are resistant, 15% are slightly resistant and 33% are unstable. Four species of the native flora of the Murmansk Region (Alchemilla alpina L., Arnica alpina (L.) Olin, Rhodiola rosea L., Papaver lapponicum (Nordh.) Tolm. subsp. lapponicum) and one introduced plant, the North Caucasian Papaver bracteatum Lindl., have proved highly resistant to conditions of the cultivation. The majority of the cultivated rare species are classified as resistant to cultural conditions, for the maintenance of which vegetative propagation plays a leading role. Northern and mountain plants, including ephemeroids, which are not typical of the nature of the Murmansk Region, are well preserved in the conditions of the botanical garden in Kirovsk town. In recent years, protected plants removed from the wild as part of offset works during the construction of industrial facilities and seized from poachers by authorized bodies have been increasingly transferred to the PABGI nurseries for preservation.