The tiny Uighur settlement of Tongguzbasti, 170km (102 miles) north of Keriya beside the rapidly diminishing Keriya Dariya, must rank as one of the most remote places in Xinjiang. It is said to stand on the ruins of the lost city of Keladun, and artefacts dating from the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 222) have been found here. Today about 100 families of Keriya Uighur live here in almost complete isolation.

And a pencilly beam of light, wavering and striped among the branches as the detected pair switched on, and the thunder and protest of pursuit...

In wild-type spermatids, Hrb is associated with the cytosolic surface of proacrosomic transport vesicles that fuse to create a single large acrosomic vesicle at step 3 of spermiogenesis.

An interesting feature of the plant was the occasional incidence of radiate, mostly unbranched bracts in the cystocarp, giving it an echinulate appearance.