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Recent Hungarian distribution of Potamogeton coloratus
77–83Views:169The 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.
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Spreading along the railways: morphology and invasion success of Vulpia ciliata in Hungary
145–156Views:469Vulpia ciliata Dumort, a widespread species in the Mediterranean region, has been introduced in several European countries in recent decades, mainly along railways. The species was first discovered in Hungary at Szolnok railway station in May 2016, then a few days later at Keleti railway station in Budapest. In 2020 the species was found in several Transdanubian railway stations. Apparently, V. ciliata has recently been established in numerous parts of the country, probably spreading by railway transport. Until now, the species has only been found in the vicinity of regularly used tracks (in a distance of 20 m at the most). Being an invasive alien species, V. ciliata can displace the native Vulpia myuros in ruderal vegetation along railway lines. The species can easily be distinguished from V. myuros by its hairy lemma. Moreover, it flowers earlier than the other two indigenous species in Hungary, often already in late April. Based on the characteristics examined (number of nodes in the upper 2 cm zone of the rachis, number of fruits per spikelet, rate of fertile and sterile florets within the spikelet, lower and upper glume length, lemma and awn length separately, rachis width in the upper 2 cm zone) we have concluded that V. bromoides and V. myuros are less different from each other than V. ciliata from these two species. In the case of V. ciliata subsp. ciliata, we observed that spikelets (detached from the inflorescens) function as dispersal units. Therefore we assume that the observed low fertility rate within the spikelets, as well as the presence of marginal cilia on lemmas promote the spreading success of V. ciliata (spreading in clusters, anemochory, zoochory, anthropochory). Its early maturation (in May) can also facilitate its spread along railways, because the populations survive the chemical weed control usually carried out in late spring. The other two Hungarian species usually ripen later (in June). For the time being, the spread of V. ciliata outside the Hungarian railway network may be hindered by climatic conditions, or by the lack of seasonal weed control outside that network, which otherwise offers a relative survival advantage for V. ciliata along railway tracks.
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Contributions to the flora of Western-Transdanubia (W Hungary)
213-234Views:121In this paper, we presented the results of our floristic survey in West-Hungarian region. The data were collected between 2005 and 2015 and supportted with herbaria or photo-documentation. This paper reports new floristic data of 98 taxa from West-Hungary with altogether 172 field-collected data records. In the survey we focused on little-known taxa with a phyto-geographic importance. For some taxa we checked the herbarium specimens of Savaria Museum and Natural History Museum of Budapest. During our fieldwork we recorded 8 species new to W-Hungary, including 3 species considered to be native to the region [Oenanthe banatica Heuff., Koeleria pyramidata (Lam.) P. Beauv., Polycnemum majus A. Braun.]. Almost all of the recorded species are regarded as indigenous plants, many of them has nature conservation importance, thus, their monitoring are highly advised. We found new localities of many species which of high importance for plant geography describing their current distribution. Most of the recorded species occur in natural or semi-natural habitats, but some taxa were found in synanthropic habitats and extensive arable lands.
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Bruchia flexuosa (Schwägr.) Müll. Hal. a true peculiarity in the Hungarian bryoflora
193-201Views:118The fifth European occurrence of the moss species Bruchia flexuosa possessing a holarctic distribution range with a North American centre was encountered in Hungary. Outside of the North American continent only two Asian (both from Japan) and four European occurrences from four different countries (Italy, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia) have hitherto been reported. Apart from the recent Japan findings and the Croatian record observed in 1987, all other European records date back to the 19th century. Our paper reports the circumstances of the Hungarian occurrence along with a short descriptions and photographic illustrations of both the species and its habitat.
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The subgenus Ceratochloa (DC. et P. Beauv.) Hack. (Bromus L., Poaceae) in Hungary
44-47Views:124The subgenus Ceratochloa is a taxonomically difficult small group of the genus Bromus. The species of this subgenus are mostly native to America, and are often introduced to other continents. Two species of them, namely B. catharticus and B. carinatus have been reported from Hungary so far. Bromus catharticus was first found in Győr city in the 1910s, much later (in the 2000s) in Környe and Kálmánháza villages. The Hungarian records of B. carinatus come from Keszthely and Sopron cities. We have recently found two new occurrences of B. catharticus in the city of Pécs, South Hungary.
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Historical occurrence of Spergularia echinosperma, a rare Nanocyperion species in Hungary
3–9Views:278Three species of the genus Spergularia have been known from Hungary. The most widespread one, Spergularia rubra (L.) J. Presl et C. Presl occurs on young sandy fallow fields and other disturbed habitats. The other species, S. marina (L.) Bess. and S. media (L.) C. Presl, occur sporadically in saline grasslands, and both have been recently spreading along salted roads. During a revision of the genus Spergularia in Hungarian herbaria, specimens of the species S. echinosperma (Čelak.) Asch. et Graebn. were found. It is a rare species previously known to occur only in Czechia and Germany and to be extinct in Austria and Slovakia (a few occurrences along the Morava and Danube rivers between 1909 and 1953). However, it was recently discovered in Western Siberia and Kazakhstan. It is a typical mudflat plant that occurs on exposed sandy shores of water bodies. Two herbarium sheets collected by Gyula Tauscher from near the village of Ercsi (riverbank of the Danube) in 1903 were found in the Carpato-Pannonicum collection of the Hungarian Natural History Museum. In addition, a new specimen was found, collected in Slovakia (Danube near Šamorín, collected by Mihály Résely in 1868) at the vicinity of the Hungarian border. The species was not confirmed during a field inspection of the target localities in Hungary; therefore, we have to consider it extinct in the country as well as in the whole Pannonian Basin. Recently, S. echinosperma was split into two subspecies – subsp. echinosperma and subsp. albensis. The subsp. echinosperma is probably restricted to fishponds in the SW part of Czechia and subsp. albensis occurs mainly in the floodplains of the river Elbe in Germany. The extinct populations of S. echinosperma in the Pannonian Basin belonged to the subsp. albensis. This taxon is morphologically close to S. rubra but can be reliably distinguished by densely verrucose seeds and shorter than wide stipules.
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New occurrence of Caldesia parnassifolia (L.) Parl. in Hungary
50-55Views:76Caldesia parnassifolia is a critically endangered and strictly protected species in Hungary. It was known only from one locality of occurrence so far, where it was last reported in 2003. Its new occurrence was discovered in Somogy county, in 2010. It appeared in an artificial pond created in the place of an originally swampy depression. Based on this newly discovered occurrence we can assume that other potential populations might still exist in South-Transdanubium, which could be rediscovered if similar conservation measures occur.
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Two new adventive species from the Rubiaceae family in Hungary
286–296Views:161Two alien species from the Rubiaceae family were recorded as new for Hungary in 2016. Phuopsis stylosa is a rarely used garden plant in Europe, originally occurs in south-west Asia. A small escaped and established stand was found in Csákánydoroszló village in Vas County (West Hungary). Also a small group of Galium murale was discovered in Budapest-Keleti Railway Station (Central Hungary). This species is originated from the Mediterranean and probably spreads by rail transport. Both species are represented in their habitats by small populations therefore their invasiveness can only be evaluated after several years' monitoring.
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Annual Lythrum species in Hungary: revision of the subgenus Hyssopifolia
64–70Views:108Four 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.
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Taxonomic revision of alien Ludwigia species in Hungary
153–164Views:258Some tropical Ludwigia species have been planted as ornamentals in Hungarian thermal springs since the 1920s. Although they have become naturalised or even invasive in a few places, their specific identity remained generally uncertain. Our herbarium and field studies revealed that three species of alien water-primroses occur in Hungary. The most frequently planted one is Ludwigia repens, which is, however, a sporadic species in its native distribution area. We have found this species in several parts of the country. Although a few escaped and self-sustaining populations were also observed, this species has appeared to be non-invasive so far. Ludwigia grandiflora appeared in Hungary at the beginning of the 2000s. At the moment it is known from three localities, though spreading rapidly, becoming already invasive in its locality at Tata city. A similar species, L. peploides has recently been reported from two localities, where it forms small stands; the success of its naturalisation can be assessed in the future. We found no evidence for the Hungarian occurrence of L. alterniflora that had been published from Eger city. Therefore we suggest deleting this species from the current Hungarian checklist.
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Najas gracillima (A. Braun ex Engelmann) Magnus in Hungary
43-49Views:74Najas gracillima, an introduced species to Europe, naturally occurs in East-Asia and NorthAmerica. It was firstly discovered in Hungary in 2012 in our weed survey of rice fields in the vicinity of Szarvas, Gyomaendrőd and Mezőtúr. Although, it occurred in relatively high abundances in the rice fields along the Körös river its invasion is not expected into new habitats in the near future due to its special habitat preference and gregariousness.
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Cyperus odoratus in Hungary
157–164Views:278Eleven species of the genus Cyperus have been reported from Hungary so far, of which 3 are certainly aliens. A small population of C. odoratus, new for the flora of Hungary, was found along the River Danube near Foktő settlement (Bács-Kiskun County, S Hungary) in late autumn of 2019. On this occasion blooming specimens were observed in the floodplain ruderal vegetation on the bank of a fork of the Danube. This species is widespread in the tropical and subtropical regions of the World, and was first introduced to Europe in the early 1950s. More recently it has been spreading along certain rivers of Italy and Spain. It was discovered along the river Danube in Romania in the early 1990s, and later at the upper parts of the river in Bulgaria, Croatia and Serbia. Its introduction into Hungary is connected with the Danube, too. Based on foreign experience, it is probable that C. odoratus will be spreading along the Hungarian Danube system, hopefully, not as an invasive species.