In the present paper we report original thousand-seed weight data for the flora of the Pannonian Basin. Our goal was to demonstrate the usefulness of seed weight databases by analysing seed weight data in relation to social behaviour types and life forms. We specifically asked the following questions: (i) how the seed weights are related to social behaviour type categories; (ii) how the life form of the species influences seed weight differences between respective social behaviour types? Own weight measurements are provided for 1,405 taxa; and for 187 taxa we published seed weight data for the first time: these were mostly endemics, orchids and/or species with Pontic, Caspian or continental distribution. Several taxonomic or functional groups are underrepresented in our database, like aquatic plants, rare arable weeds and sub-Mediterranean species. Problematic taxa, some difficultto-harvest species or species with low seed production and cultivated adventives are also underrepresented. We found that the plant strategies expressed by social behaviour types were significantly different in terms of seed weights. The lowest seed weight scores were found for natural pioneers, whereas the highest ones were found for adventives and introduced cultivated plants. Short-lived herbaceous species had significantly higher seed weight scores than herbaceous perennials. No significant differences were found between specialists and generalists within the stress tolerant group. We found that short-lived graminoids possess heavier seeds than perennial graminoids, perennial and annual forbs. Naturalness scores were negatively correlated with seed weights. Our findings showed that seed collections and databases are not only for storing plant material and seed weight data, but can be effectively used for understanding ecological trends and testing plant trait-based hypotheses. Even the identified gaps underline the necessity of further seed collection and measurements.

Alterations in traditional land use practices have led to severe declines in the area of semi-natural grasslands, thereby seriously threatening plant and animal species dependent on these habitats. Small anthropogenic managed habitats, like roadsides can act as refuges and might play an important role in conserving these species. Colonization of roadside verges by endangered lizard orchids (Himantoglossum spp.) has long been known, but few studies have systematically explored the suitability of roadside habitats for these orchids and the impact of roads on them. In this paper we present results of targeted surveys of three lizard orchid taxa on roadsides from eight European countries. During these surveys we searched for lizard orchids inhabiting roadside verges and recorded their distance from road, aspects of the roadside environment, as well as vegetative and reproductive characteristics of individual plants. We found large numbers of lizard orchids on roadside verges. Distance from roads was not uniformly distributed: orchids occurred more closely to roads than expected by chance. This suggests that regular management of roadsides (e.g. mowing) might enhance colonization and survival of lizard orchids. On the other hand, we also found that close proximity to roads negatively affects reproductive success, suggesting that the immediate vicinity of roads might act as an ecological trap (i.e. favorable in terms of colonization and survival but unfavorable in terms of reproduction). Nonetheless, the fact that significant and viable populations are maintained at roadsides suggests that traditionally managed roadside verges may allow long-term persistence of lizard orchid populations and may serve as refuges in a landscape context.

Harvest of orchid tubers for salep production is widespread in southwestern Asia and the Balkans and constitutes a major conservation risk for wild orchid populations. Synanthropic habitats, such as graveyards, are important refuges for orchids and other organisms and could offer protection from salep harvesting because of their special cultural role. However, little is known about the occurrence and factors influencing harvesting of salep in graveyards. During field surveys of 474 graveyards throughout Turkey, we observed 333 graveyards with orchids, 311 graveyards with tuberous orchids, and salep harvest in 14 graveyards. Altogether, 530 individuals of 17 orchid species were collected, representing 9% of the individuals recorded. Harvesting intensity was relatively low, and populations were usually not wholly destroyed. However, some species were clearly more affected than others. Salep harvesting risk of orchid species was significantly associated with flowering time, with early‐flowering species being more affected. A marginally significant positive relationship between harvesting risk and species‐specific tuber size was also detected. Our data suggest that graveyards might offer some protection against salep harvesting in Turkey, but they also show that some orchid taxa are much more affected than others. Overall, our observations add more weight to the conservation value of these special habitats.

For understanding local and regional seed dispersal and plant establishment processes and for considering the ecotypes and other forms of specific variability, hard data of locally or regionally measured traits are necessary. We provided newly measured seed weight data of 193 taxa, out of which 24 taxa had not been represented in the SID, LEDA or BiolFlor databases. Our new measurements and formerly published data of locally collected seed weight records together covers over 70% of the Pannonian flora. However, there is still a considerable lack in seed weight data of taxonomically problematic genera, even though they are represented in the Pannonian flora with a relatively high number of species and/ or subspecies (e.g. Sorbus, Rosa, Rubus, Crataegus and Hieracium). Our regional database contains very sporadic data on aquatic plants (including also numerous invasive species reported from Hungary and neighbouring countries) and some rare weeds distributed in the southwestern part of the country. These facts indicate the necessity of further seed collection and measurements.Key words: dry storage, hard trait, herbarium, plant trait, restoration, seed database, seed mass INTRODUCTIONOne of the most easily measurable physical trait of a plant is the weight of its seeds. Seed weight (or referred to also as seed mass) affects the regeneration strategy and the dispersal of plant species both in space (spatial dispersal) and time (development of a seed bank). Seed weight is also strongly related Acta Bot. Hung. 58, 2016 188 TÖRÖK, P., TÓTH, E., TÓTH, K., VALKÓ, O., DEÁK, B., KELBERT, B., BÁLINT, P. et al. to seed predation events (larger seeds are more likely predated), germination processes, seedling establishment and survival (Eriksson 2000). Thus, in the last few decades seed traits (incl. seed weight) became frequently used for explaining crucial dynamical processes in plant communities (Leishman et al. 2001, Moles et al. 2007) and for analysing life trait scenarios (Beaulieu et al. 2007, Moles and Westoby 2003). There is also an increasing trend to collect hard and soft traits into searchable and electronically available databases. This also holds for seed traits, which can be found for the European flora in comprehensive databases, such as BiolFlor (Klotz et al. 2002), BIOPOP (Kleyer 1995), LEDA (Kleyer et al. 2008), TRY (Kattge et al. 2011a, b) the Seed information database SID 7.1 (Kew Botanical Garden, Liu et al. 2008), the Dispersal and diaspore database (Hintze et al. 2013), and the Digital seed atlas of the Netherlands (Cappers et al. 2012). These databases contain data for most of the common European species, especially species with a northwestern or Central European distribution. Species distributed mostly in southern or eastern Europe are generally underrepresented in these databases; thus, providing new, locally collected data on seed weights is a vital task in these regions (see also Csontos et al. 2003, Török et al. 2013. Furthermore, for understanding local and regional seed dispersal and pla...

No abstract

The paper introduces the Herbarium Database of Hungarian Orchids which contains all records of orchid (Orchidaceae) specimens stored in the Hungarian herbaria. All data from the herbarium sheets were entered into the database, and secondary data were also added it; including a taxonomic revision in line with current theory. Only unique data was considered, yielding 7,658 records of 55 species from 452 collectors. It covers the whole territory of Hungary, and spans two centuries ranging from 1804 to the present. The temporal frequency of collections shows a peak in the middle of the 20 th century. The most effective collectors came from this era, and the name of Rezső Soó and his followers can be mentioned as most prominent. As in other countries, a decline in collection is seen in the last decades of the 20 th century. A geographically uneven coverage of collections was observed, and the such heavily underrepresented regions could be identified with the help of the database. However, the value of collection for scientific purposes is emphasised, as can be readily seen in this database. Taxonomically, seven recently described species could be identified, which were collected before their description under other names more than one century ago. On the other hand, the earlier presence of species now considered to be extinct could be unequivocally proven, as in the case of Malaxis monophyllos. The multiple application of herbaria is illustrated by some examples, reinforcing unambiguously the usefulness of collecting for scientific purposes. Furthermore, new, as yet unforeseen, application of herbarium collections can be expected.

-The 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).Keywords: Debrecen, flora of Hungary, history of hungarian botany, Košice, natural history collections Összefoglalás -A dolgozat bemutatja a Debreceni Egyetem Herbáriumának (DE) egyik részgyűjteményét, a "Siroki Zoltán Herbáriumot", annak MS Excel alapú adatbázisban rögzített adatai alapján. A gyűjtemény Európa szinte minden országából, főként Magyarországról és Szlovákiából (Kassa környékéről) származó, mintegy 20 000 példányt őriz. Közel 400 (többségében külföldi) gyűjtő gyarapította a herbáriumot, de a legtöbb példányt Siroki Zoltán gyűjtötte, főként Hajdú-Bihar, Pest és Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén megyékben. Java részét a múlt század derekán (az 1940-es és 1960-as évek között) szedte, de gyűjtő tevékenységét egészen az 1980-as évekig folytatta. Az egykori Magyar Királyi Állami Vetőmagvizsgáló Állomás gyűjteményéből is átvett jó néhány lapot, ezek száma néhány százra tehető. Az adatbázis attribútum-táblájának jelentős részét (a Magyarország mai területén gyűjtött, nem kultivált növények példányainak fő adataival) az 1. Elektronikus mellékletben szabad felhasználásra közreadjuk. Igény szerint a szerzők részletesebb adatokat is közölnek.

Jelen közlemény rövid áttekintést nyújt a mocsári kockásliliom (Fritillaria meleagris L.) nevezéktanáról, rendszertanáról, alak- és szövettanáról, életciklusáról, fenológiájáról, szaporodás-biológiájáról, élőhelyválasztásáról, biotikus interakcióiról, hatóanyagairól, mikroszaporításáról, felhasználási lehetőségeiről és veszélyeztetettségéről. Pontosítottuk a faj európai elterjedési térképét és kiegészítéseket teszünk a hazai előfordulásaihoz. Saját adatokat közlünk a növény magképzési sikeréről, ezermagtömegéről, hazai állományainak demográfiai jellemzőiről, valamint termőhelyeinek talaj-adottságairól.