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Lajos Felföldy: a prominent Hungarian botanist and hydrobiologist
3–25Views:213Lajos 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.
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An identification key for Hungarian botanists portrayed in Album Kleinianum
117-132Views:133In the legacy of Sándor Jávorka deposited in the Hungarian Natural History Museum there is a 12-page typescript entitled “An identification key for Hungarian botanists portrayed in Album Kleinianum (Budapest, 25 September 1912)”. It provides accurate descriptions of 50 botanists in the form of an identification key, which was compiled by Zoltán Szabó, a well-known botanist at that time. The most important features of each person are presented in a humorous, basically ironic, funny and witty way. The Identification key was prepared for the session no. 178 of the Botanical Section of the Royal Hungarian Natural Science Society, where another botanist, Gyula Klein was congratulated on the 40th anniversary of his teaching profession as well as the 20th anniversary of his membership in the society. Almost all prominent botanists attended the meeting. This paper presents the Identification key, supplied with annotations and photographs.
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In memoriam János Hulják (1884–1942)
5-10Views:102János Hulják prominent Hungarian botanist was born 130 years ago. He worked as teacher and director in elementary school at Pereces (today it belong to Miskolc). He played key role in the floristic exploration of Northern Hungarian Mountain Range. His huge herbarium collection was destroyed during World War II., only the exchange material was preserved (about few hundred sheets), mainly in BP and DE. Some vascular plant species [Centaurea huljakii J. Wágner, Sorbus huljakii Kárpáti, Galium × huljakii Jávorka and Pilosella auriculoides subsp. huljakii (Zahn) Soják] were named after him.
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In memoriam Zoltán Siroki (1906–1987)
3-14Views:121Zoltán Siroki (1906–1987) was a Hungarian agronomist and lecturer. His professional activity was connected mainly to Debrecen. Beside his widely known ornithological studies his floristic and fitocoenological data to Matricum, Crisicum and Nyírségense Hungarian regions are also important. Herbarium of Zoltán Siroki, consisting of ca. 20 000 specimens is a remarkable part of the Herbarium of Debrecen University (DE).
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The herbarium of Debrecen University (DE) I. The “Rezső Soó Herbarium”
142-155Views:218The paper introduces the herbarium of Debrecen University (DE). All specimens of the herbarium were documented by digital photographs, and all data from the labels were entered into an Excel spreadsheet. The largest collection of Herbarium DE, the “Soó Rezső Herbarium” (abbreviation: SRH) consists of ca. 38.000 specimens from almost all European countries, but mainly from Hungary and the neighbouring countries. Most of the specimens originate from Hajdú-Bihar, Pest, Győr-Moson-Sopron, Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén, Veszprém and Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg counties. The SRH stores a considerable amount of original/authentic specimens collected by Hungarian botanists, primarily by Rezső Soó and his followers, as well as Sándor Polgár. The most rapid growth of the SRH took place in the first half of the last century (1930–1950). By contrast, the collection was practically not developed between 1955 and 2000. After the millennium it started to grow again. Data on the most substantial part of the SRH covering native plants collected in the present-day Hungary are summarized in Electronic Appendix 1. (incl. taxon name, settlement, collecting date, collector, file name of documentary photograph).
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In memoriam Frigyes Ágost Hazslinszky [In Hungarian]
3-7Views:135Mondhatunk-e bármi újdonságot két évszázad távlatában olyasvalakiről, akit kortársai, követői számos alkalommal megemlékezéseikben méltattak? Elfeledett életrajzi dokumentumok vagy a hagyaték feldolgozása nélkül aligha. Hazslinszky Frigyes esetében jelenleg nem állnak rendelkezésünkre az életét és munkásságát új megvilágításba helyező tények, talán mégsem haszontalan feleleveníteni vele kapcsolatos ismereteinket...
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In memoriam Endre Lakatos [in Hungarian]
111-116Views:113Ezt a visszaemlékezést egykori legkedvesebb tanáromról és atyai jóbarátomról nagyrészt az emlékeim összegyűjtéséből írom. Lakatos Endrét (1928–1995) 15 éves koromban, 1966-ban láttam először, amikor a szikszói gimnáziumban megkezdtem a tanulmányaimat. Első éves koromban lett az osztályom biológia tanára. Diákjainak többsége némi félelemmel teli tisztelettel emlegette az átlagos tanároktól szinte mindenben különböző Endre bácsit...
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Herbarium database of the vascular collection of Eszterházy Károly College (EGR)
339-348Views:180The paper describes the vascular herbarium of the Eszterházy Károly College (EGR) in Eger (Hungary), according to its condition in 2013. All specimens of the herbarium were documented by digital photographs (ca. 8 000 specimens), and all data from the labels were entered into MS Excel spreadsheet. 54% of the specimens were collected in present-day Hungary, the other half comes mainly from the neighbouring countries, but more distant European countries are represented as well. Hungarian specimens were collected mostly in Heves, Pest, Zala, Vas, Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén and Veszprém counties. Most of the herbarium sheets originated from the 1860’s and the 1950–60’s. Apart from these periods the collection has hardly developed. The most prolific collectors were Gábor Vida, Márton Vrabélyi, Árpád Károlyi and Tamás Pócs. More than half of the Hungarian flora (61%) is represented in EGR, although some taxa (e.g. Pterydophyta, Gymnospermatophyta) are much underrepresented. The digital photographs and the database are property of the authors and the Department of Botany and Ecology of Eszterházy Károly College. Data of non-cultivated plants collected in the territory of present-day Hungary are summarized in an electronic appendix (http://kitaibelia.unideb.hu/?download&aid=852&volume_id=94&lang=hun – including: catalogue number, taxon name, collector, settlement, date of gathering and file name of the documentary photograph). Further data can be required from the corresponding author or the curator of the herbarium.
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The Herbarium of Debrecen University (DE) II.: The „Zoltán Siroki Herbarium”
15-22Views:466The paper introduces the “Zoltán Siroki Herbarium” (on the basis of the MS Excel spreadsheet database of the collection) which is a separate section within the Herbarium of Debrecen University (DE). The Zoltán Siroki Herbarium consists of ca. 20 000 specimens from almost all European countries, but mainly from the historical territory of Hungary. Although ca. 400 botanists contributed to this collection, most of the specimens were collected by Zoltán Siroki in Hajdú-Bihar, Pest and Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén counties. The most rapid growth of the Herbarium took place in the middle of the last century (from the 1940s to 1960s), but Siroki remained an active collector until the 1980s. Some specimens from the Herbarium of former Royal Seed Testing Station (Budapest) was also incorporated in this collection; they represent gatherings from the last decades of the 19th century and first decades of the 20th century. Data on the most significant part of the collection, representing 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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Dr. Sándor Polgár, my grandfather
185–187.Views:93My grandfather, dr. Sándor Polgár was the second son of a Jewish family the members of which were at home in northwestern Hungary since generations as were the family of his wife Margit Csillag. He attended Benedictine secondary school in Győr and completed his studies at the Faculty of Sciences in Budapest where he got a teaching diploma for sciences at secondary school level. After that he obtained his PhD degree in aquatic plants. Beside science and pedagogy he was also interested in philosophy and music and he spoke fluent German and French. A number of his students became later successful scientists in Hungary and abroad. He was murdered together with my grandmother and a large number of his family members in Auschwitz.
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Dr. Sándor Polgár was born 140 years ago
169–184Views:156Dr. Sándor Polgár was the most outstanding botanist of Győr county (NW Hungary). He provided important results in floristic studies, phytogeography, taxonomy and in the research of alien plants. „Győr megye flórája” („Flora of Győr county”), published in 1941, was one of the most important monography in his period. He is the author of the rare, hybridogenous species Ornithogalum ×degenianum, known only from Hungary. His private herbarium was one of the biggest in Hungary with more than 20,000 specimens. As a teacher he taught geography and nature studies in his home town Győr between 1900 and 1935. Because of his Jewish origin, he was a victim of the holocaust in 1944.