The so-called love flowers (Centaurea tchihatcheffii), which have red petals and a distinctive funnel shape, are part of the Aster family and mainly grow in the empty fields at the northern and southern ends of Mogan Lake. The locals also call the species the burning and turning flower, the prophet flower and bride's button. Last year, the love flowers appeared in only a 30-square-meter area due to a drought that affected most of the country, but this year increased precipitation has helped spread the rare bloom over a much wider area.
The love flower still faces extinction despite being placed on a protection list in 1976. Besides the banks of Mogan Lake, it is also known to grow on property in Gölbaşı owned by the Directorate General of the State Opera and Ballet. There are 170 species of Centaurea in Turkey, of those, 110 are endemic.
The Directorate General of the State Opera and Ballet has also taken action to help protect the flower, which is considered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources to be facing "a high risk of extinction" in the wild. After receiving an official request from the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, the Directorate General of the State Opera and Ballet stated that it was willing to donate its 25-acre plot for the protection efforts if the Directorate General of National Property allocated another plot of land to it.
In a statement to the Anatolia news agency, Gölbaşı Mayor Abdülnasır Haşlak said they would use the land as a lab and small research center once donated. Haşlak thanked the head of the directorate, Rengim Gökmen, for his willingness to give up the land. "Following the transfer, we will allocate this field to scientists and make sure that it is used as a laboratory for the preservation of the love flower," he noted.
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