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As spring blooms across Kazakhstan, many beautiful flowers emerge. However, picking these delicate plants can lead to hefty fines, as a significant number are listed in the country's Red Book.

Endangered Flora Under Protection

The Red Book of Kazakhstan, last updated in 2014, lists 387 plant species, including 65 medicinal varieties, that require protection. These rare and endangered species include plants like Andrzhevsky's carnation, Vital's and Kok-Sagyz licorice, Cwirt wormwood, curly lily, May lily of the valley, and the Kazakh reed.

A notable group of protected plants are the various tulips. Among them are Albert's tulip, Bieberstein's tulip, Borshchov's tulip, Greig's tulip, the two-colored tulip, Zinaida's tulip, Kaufman's tulip, Kolpakovsky's tulip, Korolkov's tulip, the short-stamened tulip, Lehmann's tulip, the single-colored tulip, Ostrovsky's tulip, the late tulip, the drooping tulip, the multi-petaled tulip, Regel's tulip, and Shrenk's tulip.

Penalties for Illegal Harvesting

Under Article 339 of the Criminal Code and the Law "On the Flora" (2023), the unauthorized picking, collection, destruction, damage, or illegal possession, transportation, or sale of rare plant species is strictly prohibited.

Violators face substantial penalties. The fines can reach up to 13 million tenge for illegally collecting or damaging plants listed in the Red Book.

What You Can Legally Gather

Citizens are permitted to gather wild fruits, nuts, mushrooms, berries, medicinal herbs, and other plants for personal and household use. However, this is subject to norms established by local authorities, and it remains illegal to collect rare or protected species.

"Collection is carried out by individuals within the norms approved by decisions of the local representative bodies (maslikhats) of regions and cities of republican significance," the Ministry of Ecology stated.

Previously, Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Yerlan Nyssanbaev highlighted strict penalties for picking snowdrop flowers. However, the snowdrop is not currently listed in the official Red Book.

This information was reported by the Infohub.kz news agency.