Vol. 22 No. 1 (2017): In memoriam Lajos Felföldy

Published January 1, 2017

##issue.tableOfContents##

  • Lajos Felföldy: a prominent Hungarian botanist and hydrobiologist
    3–25
    Views:
    213

    Lajos Felföldy (1920–2016) was one of the most versatile and open-minded Hungarian biologists. He began his scientific career as a student of Prof. Rezső Soó. Between 1938 and 1946 he participated in geobotanical studies in University of Debrecen and Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca, Romania). He contributed with important achievements to the development of several biological disciplines. His pioneering study on the effects of air pollution on epiphytic lichens (1942) was among the firsts in the world. He described Hemitherophyte life-form as a discrete unit within Raunkiaer's plant life-form system (1942). He was a pioneer in the cytological (caryological) study of wild vascular plant species in Hungary (1947–1949). His results regarding to primary production of freshwater algae and algal culture (1958–1960) were in leading edge. In 1972 he founded and until 1990 edited the Hungarian series entitled ‘Vízűgyi Hidrobiológia’. Books of this series aimed to publish identification keys of freshwater taxa. These books were proved to be decisive and useful tools for Hungarian hydrobiologists in biological classification of brooks, streams, rivers and different types of stagnant waters. Between 1934 and 2009 he collected more than ten thousand herbarium sheets. After his retirement, he dealt with the revision of the herbarium material of Department of Botany in Hungarian Natural History Museum and Botanical Garden of Eötvös University (Budapest). He participated in the preparation of the New Hungarian Herbal. His scientific work was characterised by deep humility for nature, which was founded on strong theoretical and practical background.

  • In memoriam Lajos Felföldy [In Hungarian]
    26–34
    Views:
    92

    A Lajos bácsi mellett töltött tíz növénytári esztendő (1993–2003), különösen az ezredforduló előtti évek, szakmai pályafutásom talán legszebb, legfelhőtlenebb szakaszát jelentette. Hozzájárult ehhez a „rendszerváltozás” időszakának reményekkel teli atmoszférája, a „most majd minden jobb lesz” szinte gyermeki (és meglehetősen naiv) lelkesedése. Az 1960-as évek óta Csipkerózsika-álmát alvó magyar flóra- és vegetációkutatás hatalmas fejlődésnek indult, köszönhetően annak a váratlan jelenségnek, amely a hazai szakintézmények elhivatott „fiataljai” (és kevésbé fiataljai), valamint az amatőr botanikusok nagymértékű és szinte egyidejű színre lépésében testesült meg. Rohamosan követték egymást a nagy jelentőségű, néha szenzációszámba menő florisztikai, vegetációtani és taxonómiai felfedezések, új flóra- és vegetációművek láttak napvilágot. Döbbenetes erővel ébredtünk rá, mennyi ismeretlent, mennyi kutatnivalót rejt hazánk növényvilága. A „fiatalok” között akkoriban még nemigen mutatkoztak a mások kárára történő egyéni érdekérvényesítés alattomos, vagy leplezetlen jelei, sokkal inkább az együttműködésen volt a hangsúly, és ezt a mozgalmat néhány „nagy öreg”, köztük Felföldy Lajos is melegen pártolta...

  • In memoriam Lajos Felföldy [In Hungarian]
    35–46
    Views:
    93

    Munkakapcsolatunk látszólag igen rövid ideig tartott. Az ő 15 éves, vízügynél befutott pályája és az én vele egy munkahelyen töltött három évem (csak 1977 októbere és 1980 szeptembere között dolgoztunk együtt) nevetségesen csekély idő-átfedés. Ennek ellenére – pláne mai szemmel nézve – ez igen-igen speciális időszak volt, amikor még kézzel írtuk a jelentéseinket, valamint írógéppel, megfelelő határozókönyvek híján, számítógép nélkül dolgoztunk, nekem tereptapasztalataim még egyáltalán nem voltak, vizeink élővilágát csekély módon ismertem csak, s a környezetszennyezés durvábbnál durvább eseteivel sem igen találkoztam. Egy mérnöki szemlélet által uralt kutatóintézeti közegben kezdtem a munkát, a hazai vizek átfogó feltárásáról  még nem esett sok szó, és meg lehet említeni – az akkori KGST-kapcsolatok ellenére – a bizonyos fokú nemzetközi elszigeteltségünket is. Felföldy Lajossal ekkor találkozhattam és dolgozhattam együtt. Ő volt az a kutató, akitől kollegáimmal elsajátíthattuk a hidrobiológiai szemléletmódot, a környezet- és természetvédelem szeretetét és ápolását, a magas fokú szakmaiságot...

  • The herbarium of the Botanical Garden of Eötvös Loránd University (BPU)
    55–59
    Views:
    258

    The paper introduces the herbarium of Eötvös Loránd University (BPU), currently stored at the Botanical Garden of the University, according to its state in the year 2013. The BPU herbarium consists of ca. 16 000 specimens the relevant data of which have been organised into an OpenOffice Calc spreadsheet database. The specimens were collected in 16 European countries, mainly in the current territory of Hungary (80%), Romania (12%) and Slovakia (5%). Other countries are represented with very few specimens. The vast majority (ca. 70%) of the Hungarian specimens were collected in Pest, Veszprém, Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén, Hajdú-Bihar and Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg counties. Although the gatherings cover a century and a half period of time, the most rapid growth of the collection took place from the 1930s to the 1960s. The most prolific collectors were Rezső Soó and his followers: Lajos Felföldy, Tibor Simon and Szaniszló Priszter. Felföldy and Simon enriched the collection through more than 60 years. Data on the native plants collected in the present-day Hungary are summarized in Electronic Appendix 1. (incl. taxon name, settlement, collecting year, collector, file name of documentary photograph).

  • New occurrence of Myricaria germanica in a Hungarian gravel pit
    60–63
    Views:
    232

    This paper reports the second Hungarian synanthropic occurrence of the rare Myricaria germanica. One flowering individual was found in a gravel pit near Hejőpapi (NE Hungary). The closest known population of the species is 60 km far from newly found locality. This occurrence indicates effectivness of anemochory. It seems, that abandoned gravel pits may be potential habitats of this threataned shub species.

  • Annual Lythrum species in Hungary: revision of the subgenus Hyssopifolia
    64–70
    Views:
    127

    Four ephemeral Lythrum species have been recorded from Hungary so far. Lythrum hyssopifolia is widely distributed in the whole country. Most occurrences of L. tribracteatum are located in southeastern Hungary and alongside the Danube. The Central Asian L. linifolium was reported from a single locality (Tiszaug village, E Hungary) in 1954, which is the only European record of this species. However, we have ascertained that the voucher specimen of this record differs from L. linifolium in some morphological traits, but strongly resembles L. borysthenicum that is distributed in the Mediterranean and steppe regions of eastern Europe. Based on our revision we suggest deleting L. linifolium from both Hungarian and European checklists. The former Hungarian occurrence of L. thesioides is confirmed by vouchers.

  • Vaccinium microcarpum (Turcz. ex Rupr.) Schmalh. in Hungary
    71–76
    Views:
    117

    The plant that was reported as Vaccinium oxycoccos L. from the Nyírjes-tó (Sirok village, NE Hungary) in 1994 was subsequently (1999) identified as Vaccinium microcarpum (Turcz. ex Rupr.) Schmalh. by the first author of this article. To substantiate this identification morphometric data were collected and analysed from Vaccinium specimens occurring in the Sphagnum dominated mires of Nyírjes-tó (Sirok vilage) and Nyíres-tó as well as Báb-tava (Bereg-plain) in September 2016. Field photographs taken previously at the localities of Bereg-plain were also used for identification. The leaves of the Sirok plants are smaller, ovate-triangular, i.e. widest near base. The ovate-elliptic bracteoles are inserted on the basal third of the glabrous pedicels. The flowers are solitary, and have dark pink corollas and hairy filaments on the whole abaxial surface. The fruit is pyriform. In contrast to the Sirok plants, those of the Bereg-mires have clearly larger and ovate-elliptic leaves. The filiform bracteoles are inserted on the middle third of the minutely hairy pedicels. The whitish flowers are grouped in clusters of (2)–3–4–(5), i.e. they form an inflorescence. The filaments are hairy only on the margins of the abaxial surface. The fruit is globular. The statistical analysis confirmed that the Sirok plants belong to Vmicrocarpumwhereas the Bereg-plain plants represent V. oxycoccos.

  • Recent Hungarian distribution of Potamogeton coloratus
    77–83
    Views:
    211

    The distribution of fen pondweed (Potamogeton coloratus) restricted to Europe where it is one of the rarest and most threatened pondweed species. In Hungary, former data of fen pondweed originated mostly from thermal and karstic springs. Due to intensive bauxite mining activity in the edge of the Transdanubian Mountain Range (NW Hungary) these springs dried up by the end of the 20th century, and it caused the temporal extinction of the species. After the ceasing of mining activity many of the former karstic springs have regenerated and several fen pondweed populations have re-established. In this paper we summarized 18 population data of fen pondweed collected between 1999 and 2016. Many of them were formerly registered in the 19th century too. Most of the new and re-discovered populations were found in karstic springs or in artificial and natural lakes in the vicinity of these springs.

  • Hungarian localities of Himantoglossum adriaticum and its land-use history
    84–94
    Views:
    185

    Himantoglossum adriaticum H. Baumann is a Natura 2000, CITES species and strictly protected plant in Hungary. During my field work (1992–2016) I realized some similarities in the characteristics of the habitats where the plant grows, so I wanted to know the land use history of the areas in question. The H. adriaticum population of Keszthely Hills was studied the longest time. There were annually 7–78 inflorescences between 1992–2016. Recently two further localities were found in Keszthely Hills. They grow in the edges of grasses used earlier as pasture, minor roadside verges and nearby abandoned vineyards. The largest population can be found in Sümeg region, majority of the individuals are along a paved road. Among the estimated 1000–2000 individuals 10 (2012) to 214 (2014) flowered. In Kőszeg, the lizard orchid grows in abandoned vineyards and in old traditional orchards. The maximum number of inflorescences was 165 (2016). In Bakony Hills its habitats are vineyards and orchards abandoned approximately 50 years ago. The size of H. adriaticum population here is nearly the same as in the Keszthely Hills. Four out of the five populations are growing on sites used as vineyard or orchard already in the years of the First Military Survey. The only exception is the population of Sümeg region. Every habitat is threatened by spontaneous forestation, but the species is able to find new habitats, so we do not worry about the drastic decline of the individuals in Hungary.

  • Rare vascular plants and fungi of Zalaegerszeg-Botfa (W Hungary)
    95-103
    Views:
    205

    The present study reports the occurrence data of 3 macrofungi and 47 vascular plant taxa, collected in Zalaegerszeg-Botfa between 2006 and 2017. These new data provide valuable additional information to the distribution map of the studied species. The spatial and abundance information of both protected and non-protected species can contribute to the future biodiversity monitoring activities in order to asses and mitigate the human impact upon natural plant communities and semi-natural habitats.

  • Data to the flora and vegetation of Hungary II.
    104–113
    Views:
    188

    We report the occurrence data of 45 vascular plant taxa collected at various localities in Hungary (Duna–Tisza Interfluve, Tiszántúl and South Transdanubia) during floristic, vegetation and ecological field surveys mostly between 2013 and 2016. Many of these plants are included in the ’Red list of the vascular flora of Hungary’ (e.g. Astragalus dasyanthusErodium ciconium and Lotus angustissimus). We primarily focused on the occurrence of rare plants (e.g. Apium repensEpipactis bugacensis and Trifolium strictum), plants that appeared in unexpected places (e.g. Medicago arabicaPolypodium vulgare and Polystichum setiferum) or have a phyto-geographic importance (e.g. Piptatherum virescensRanunculus psilostachys and Tamus communis).

  • Some floristic data from surroundings of Kötcse II. (West Outer Somogy, South Transdanubia, Hungary)
    114-121
    Views:
    113

    Floristic data of 73 species from NE part of West Outer Somogy are provided in the paper. Most of them were collected in 2016. The paper contains distribution data of species, which have not been detected in Outer Somogy so far (e.g. Peucedanum arenarium), and new occurrences of rare or sporadic taxa (e.g. Menyanthes trifoliataVeronica scardica), as well as subspontaneous occurrences of cultivated species (e.g. Narcissus poëticusHelleborus purpurascens) are provided.

  • Contributions to the Atlas Florae Hungariae III.
    122-146
    Views:
    518

    The current paper is the third one in the series aiming to contribute with new distribution data to the distribution maps published recently in Atlas Florae Hungariae. Current occurrence data of 558 vascular plant taxa from 186 flora mapping quadrates (CEU) are presented. New records are indicated from different regions of Hungary; however, most occurrences are located in the North Hungarian Mts. Occurrence data of rare native taxa (e.g. Marsilea quadrifoliaSalicornia prostrataStellaria palustrisPotentilla patulaAlthaea cannabinaLythrum tribracteatumAjuga laxmanniiPlantago schwarzenbergianaAlisma gramineumGagea bohemicaG. szovitsii), rare or data-deficient alien taxa (e.g. Chorispora tenellaThladiantha dubiaSenecio vernalis) as well as frequent but more or less underrepresented taxa (e.g. Scleranthus annuusVicia hirsutaV. lathyroides) are also enumerated. In case of the most common species we provided the CEU codes only.

  • Dry oak woods on the Szentendre Island
    147-178
    Views:
    162

    The phytosociological characteristics of the oak woods on the Szentendre Island were first studied 70 years ago. We conducted a follow-up study to determine the phytosociological relationships of theses woods and assess their possible changes over time. We found that these woods are most similar in their phytosociological characteristics to the closed pedunculate oak forests occurring in the high floodplain in the Szigetköz area (Melico nutantis-Quercetum roboris) along the Danube. Our results also showed a marked increase in the proportion of natural weeds, introduced species and invasive aliens in the studied woods.

  • Oak-ash-elm forests in the Nyírség
    179-220
    Views:
    155

    This paper presents phytosociological analyses of oak-ash-elm forests of Nyírség, NE Hungary. These climatically azonal forests grow in habitats where the soil is under the continual influence of the groundwater table, which maintains rather mesic conditions. They are particularly rich in Fagetalia elements (Actaea spicataAllium ursinum, Anemone ranunculoides, Asarum europaeum, Athyrium filix-femina, Cardamine bulbifera, Carex pilosa, Cerastium sylvaticum, Chaerophyllum aromaticum, Corydalis cava, Dryopteris filix-mas, Epipactis helleborine agg., Euphorbia amygdaloides, Galeobdolon luteum, Galium odoratum, Hedera helix, Isopyrum thalictroides, Lathraea squamaria, Lathyrus vernus, Lilium martagon, Majanthemum bifolium, Mercurialis perennis, Milium effusum, Polygonatum multiflorum, Pulmonaria officinalis, Ranunculus cassubicus, Salvia glutinosa, Sanicula europaea, Scilla vindobonensis, Stachys sylvatica, Stellaria holostea etc.) typical in the submontane regions of this part of Europe. It is possible that they are remnants of the vegetation dominating the region under the less continental and more moist climate during the Beech phase (2500–800 BC) of the Holocene.

Short communications