clockwise around the Caspian Sea
- Styrax japonicus (Wikipedia)
Styrax japonicus (野茉莉, also エゴノキ, egonoki), also known as the Japanese snowbell, is a species of flowering plant in the family Styracaceae, native to Korea, Japan, and Southern China. Growing to 12 m (39 ft) tall by 8 m (26 ft) broad, it is a graceful, spreading deciduous tree with oval, upward-facing leaves which occasionally turn yellow or orange before falling in autumn. Masses of slightly fragrant, bell-shaped white flowers hang from the branches in summer, followed by fruits (drupes) which resemble olives in both shape and colour.
- Astrakhan Oblast (Wikipedia)
Astrakhan Oblast (Russian: Астраха́нская о́бласть, romanized: Astrakhanskaya oblastʹ; Kazakh: Астрахан облысы, romanized: Astrakhan oblysy) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast) located in southern Russia. Its administrative center is the city of Astrakhan. As of the 2010 Census, its population was 1,010,073.
