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In memoriam Géza Kósa (1950–2021), Hungarian dendrologist
3-15Views:282Géza Kósa was the curator of the dendrological collection of the National Botanical Garden in Vácrátót for 45 years. Thanks to his comprehensive knowledge of horticulture, plant science and garden-history, and his extensive collection garden experience, the Garden became the richest botanical garden in Hungary. Through his activities, he gained prestige for the importance of the collecting garden profession.
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Data on spreading cultivated species in Hungarian botanical gardens
62–78Views:310Our article provides data of 186 spreading cultivated taxa in Hungary. Among these, the spreading of 40 species in botanical gardens was not known until now. During our work, we examined the arboretums of Tiszakürt, Szarvas and Erdőtelek, the agrobotanical garden of Tápiószele (located in the National Centre for Biodiversity and Gene Conservation), the botanical garden of the Eszterházy Károly Catholic University in Eger and the De la Motte Castle Park in Noszvaj. We collected further data on the lately identified Cardamine occulta and the spreading Veronica peregrina taxa, which spread mainly through plants sold in pots. Besides the already known two Juglans species, we found four new potentially spreading ones from the family of Juglandaceae (Carya cordiformis, C. ovata, Juglans cinerea and J. microcarpa). We also found seedlings and saplings in the case of all the investigated Abies species. We found the seventh Hungarian occurrence of Ludwigia grandiflora in the artificial lake of the Arboretum of Szarvas. The quantity of new occurrences reported in this paper highlights the need for further research in living collections in Hungarian botanical gardens.
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The herbarium of the Botanical Garden of Eötvös Loránd University (BPU)
55–59Views:207The 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).
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Carpathian, Transylvanian, Dacian and Pannonian elements in the flora of Sălaj region (NW Romania)
259-267Views:129This paper gives an account of biogeographically interesting plant species of the traditional ethnographic region Sălaj (in Hungarian: “Szilágyság”, NW Romania). The flora of the region, which is situated between the Transylvanian Basin and the eastern part of the Great Hungarian Plain, contains, besides the prevailing European species, a significant percentage of plant species from different biogeographic regions. Among these we noticed the continental species of eastern origin, as well as southern Sub-Mediterranean species broadly distributed in this area. A significant number of other interesting species is further represented by the endemic and sub-endemic Carpathian (Aconitum moldavicum Hacq., Symphytum cordatum Waldst. & Kit.), Transylvanian (Cephalaria radiata Griseb. & Schenk, Onosma pseudoarenaria Schur subsp. pseudoarenaria), Dacian (Helleborus purpurascens Waldst. & Kit., Phyteuma tetramerum Schur) and Pannonian (Centaurea sadleriana Janka), species, which occur in very different habitats.
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Lajos Felföldy: a prominent Hungarian botanist and hydrobiologist
3–25Views:160Lajos 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.