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• Distribution and flora of areas with alkaline and saline soils in the Mezőföld, Hungary

  39-61

  Gábor Lendvai

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  220

  Areas with  alkaline and saline (solonetz and solonchak) soils occupy substantial areas in the westernmost, Trans­danubian part of the Great Hungarian Plain (Mezőföld). To this date, the flora and vege­tation of only two localities have been studied in some detail, while the rest has remained largely unknown in this respect. In this paper, I provide brief descriptions of these little-known areas and present a list of halophytes with distribution data from the last 17 years. The names of the plants are followed by the name of the township and the geographical location where the plant was found, the code of the grid cell of the Central European Flora Survey grid that includes the location, and in selected species, the year when the species was first recorded. The list is arranged in alphabetical order irrespective of taxonomy. The occur­rence data indicate that the floras of these saline-alkaline areas represent only subsets of, but in combina­tion are almost identi­cal to the overall flora of similar habitats in the Sárvíz plain.

• The Sea milkwort (Glaux maritima) in the Carpathian Basin

  10-20

  Gábor Lendvai

  Views:

  318

  Sea milkwort (Glaux maritima L.) is a broadly distributed species in the northern hemi­sphere, inhabiting primarily maritime habitats from the arctic to the temperate zones. It is also found inland in semi-arid and arid regions with saline soils. Its status in the Carpathian Basin has become very uncertain owing to the lack of known extant populations. To evaluate its current status, I review all known occurrences within the Carpathian Basin where this species has been recorded or collected, and report five new localities of the species in Hungary, all in the western part of the Great Hungarian Plain. I also analyze habitat relationships of the species using traditional phytosociological relevés. Review of species distribution data in the Carpathian Basin revealed that sea milkwort has undergone severe reduction in population number and disappeared from many localities. Currently, only a few populations can be found in this region: the Northern Carpathians in Slovakia and the western part of the Great Plain in Hungary. In Transylvania (Romania), only a single population has been reported recently suggesting the critical status of the species there. Features of the habitats confirm the halophytic nature of the species and its fidelity to wet saline meadows. Its common accompanying species are mostly broadly distributed, salt-tolerant plants. Heterogeneity of the samples in species composition suggests that sea milkwort is not a habitat-specialist species. Several of its common associates in Hungary are also found in sea milkwort habitats in Mongolia, Asia and Utah, North America. Based on the available evidence, sea milkwort shall be considered a severely threatened plant in the Carpathian Basin. Characteristics of the vegetation in its habitats do not explain its occurrence in mountainous environments.