Galichia Gora

Galich’ia Gora 

a natural preserve in Zadonsk Raion, Lipetsk Oblast, RSFSR. The preserve is located on the right bank of the Don (Galich’ia Gora, area, 19 hectares [ha]) and on its left bank (Morozova Gora, area, 100 ha) in the Central Russian Upland.

Galich’ia Gora was organized in 1925 for the preservation and study of relict flora and vegetation, which were first discovered in 1882 by the Russian botanists V. Ia. Tsinger and D. I. Litvinov. The relative elevation of the preserve (the virtually unforested right bank of the Don, which is composed of limestones) does not exceed 45-50 m. Karst has developed in the limestones. The very rich flora of Galich’ia Gora—about 700 species—includes 40 species of rare steppe and mountain alpine plants, including relicts that have survived from glacial and postglacial times (for example, the Don cinquefoil, Podol’sk Schivereckia, the steppe spleenwort fern, and Ephedra). Also under the management of the preserve are other areas with relict flora and vegetation that are located on the territory of Lipetsk Oblast, including Pliushchan’ (40 ha), Voronov Kamen’ (15 ha), Vorgol’skie Skaly (31 ha) and Bykova Sheia (40 ha).

REFERENCES

Zapovedniki SSSR, vol. 1. Edited by A. I. Solov’ev. Moscow, 1951.
Primechatel’nye prirodnye landshafty SSSR i ikh okhrana. [Collection of articles.] Moscow, 1967.
Mil’kov, F. N., K. A. Drozdov, and V. I. Fedotov. Galich’ia Gora. Voronezh, 1970.

L. K. SHAPOSHNIKOV