Red Data Book of Ukraine: Rare and Protected Plants and Flowers

Prepared by the team at UFL flower delivery. A Red Data Book is an official list of rare and endangered species protected by the state. There are international (the IUCN Red List), national and regional red books. For Ukraine the key document is the Red Data Book of Ukraine, “Plant Kingdom” volume, which lists plants and fungi threatened by logging, ploughing of steppes, drainage of wetlands, construction and mass picking for bouquets.

How many plant species are protected

The third edition of the Red Data Book of Ukraine (2009) listed 826 species of plants and fungi. In 2021 the environment ministry approved an updated list prepared by the M. G. Kholodny Institute of Botany: 857 species, including 625 vascular plants. Twenty-one species were removed — for example water chestnut and floating watermoss, which have spread widely and become a threat to water bodies — and some species were listed for the first time, such as large-fruited horseradish and Armenian wormwood.

View full-size photoSnowdrops, pasque flowers, and lady’s slipper orchid are among the protected species in Ukraine’s Red Data Book

Protection categories

Well-known flowers in the Red Data Book

• Snowdrops — common, pleated and Elwes’s, all threatened by mass picking in spring.
• Pasque flowers — several species with silky lilac flowers in pine woods and steppes.
• Spring snowflake — like a snowdrop, but with green tips on all six petals.
• Dog’s-tooth violet — a pinkish-lilac Carpathian spring flower with mottled leaves.
• Lady’s slipper orchid — Ukraine’s largest orchid, which flowers only many years after germinating.
• Narrow-leaved daffodil — covers the Valley of Daffodils near Khust in Zakarpattia in May.
• Alpine edelweiss — grows on only a few Carpathian cliffs.
• East Carpathian rhododendron — the “chervona ruta” of the high mountains, blooming in June.
• Martagon lily — with nodding, turk’s-cap pinkish-purple flowers.
• Heuffel’s crocus — turns Carpathian meadows purple in spring.
• Purplish hellebore and many feather grasses — symbols of the forests and steppes.

Read more about spring flowers you shouldn’t pick in our articles on early spring flowers and the first spring flowers, and about natural symbols in the main Ukrainian flowers.

View full-size photoMartagon lily, Heuffel’s crocus, and feather grass are rare Carpathian flowers listed in the Red Data Book

How to help protect rare plants

• Don’t pick wild flowers in forests, mountains and steppes, and don’t buy them at street markets.
• Buy nursery-grown spring flowers and plant bulbs in your own garden.
• Stay on paths in nature: trampling destroys young plants and orchids.
• Report illegal trade in protected plants to the environmental inspectorate or police.
• Support botanical gardens and nature reserves, which keep seed banks and living collections.

Spring bouquets of tulips, daffodils, hyacinths and mimosa are greenhouse-grown and don’t harm nature.

FAQ

Is it legal to sell snowdrops?

Only cultivated ones with documents of origin. Wild snowdrops are in the Red Data Book, and picking or selling them is prohibited.

How many plants are in the Red Data Book of Ukraine?

The 2009 edition lists 826 species of plants and fungi; the 2021 list has 857, including 625 vascular plants.

What is the difference between the Red and Green Books?

The Red Data Book protects individual species, while Ukraine’s Green Book protects rare and typical plant communities, such as areas of steppe or bog.

Author: Maria Svitlovir

Graduated from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Institute of Biology and Medicine (2001). BSc in Biology, MSc in Horticulture. Writes about plants, works at a garden centre selecting and repotting plants, and contributes to plant reference guides.

About the author →