Kaszab Zoltán (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 64. (Budapest 1972)

Szujkó-Lacza, J. ; Fekete, G.: A survey of the plant life-form systems and the respective research approaches IV. Taxonomic aspects of the life-form protection of the embryonal and meristematic tissues in the dormancy stage

of a genus with a monotypical life-form. In contrast, many old genera could be pointed out. It is well-known, for instance, that life-form is an important characteristic of the sections and species within the genus Senecio. The situation is the same in Veronica, a genus in which species with the woody life-form of the tropical montane regions to the Hemicryptophy ton life-forme qually occur; while the evolvement of the annual ephemeral life-form is a further road to differentiation under steppe or desert climates. The taxonomic importance of the life-form is readily apparent in the genus Helleborus. Although its phylogenetical system is not known, ancestral as well as derived species can equally be recognized in it, and the adaptation of the species to different environmental conditions allows the drawing of some relevant parallels. The separation of the Sections was made by SCHIFFNER (1891), while the geographical range of the sections and species is known from SCHIFFNER'S work (I.e.), SZUJKÓLACZA'S papers (1957, 1959), and the respective floral manuals. The Helleborus caulescentes group contain H. vesicarius, H. foetidus, H. corsicus and its subspecies lividus. Their common systematic characters are the foliose stem and the overwintering leaves on the stem, excepting the Syrian H. vesicarius. All three species are adapted to the Mediterranean climatic conditions, characterizable by the Chamaephyton life-form. For these species, the unfavourable period is the dry season interrupting the vegetational period, except for H. foetidus. This latter species has, in contrast with H. corsicus and vesicarius of a more restricted area, a wider, Atlanto-Submediterranean range. It is a member now no more of the evergreen vegetation, though still retaining its evergreen foliage and shrubby habit. In the Alps, it can be found in the shelter of shrubs even above 1000 m.a.s.l. This group is the more ancient one, with regard to both life-form and range. The members of the Helleborus acaules group can be satisfactorily separated from the preceding one : they are acauline, having taken the Hemicryptophyton (or some of them the rhizomatic Geophyton) life-form. There occur in this group evergreen Hemicryptophyta (H. abhasicus and H. guttat us, both Caucasian endemisms, or H. odorus, advancing to South Hungary), facultative evergreens (e.g. H. multifidus of the Balkan Peninsula), as well as deciduous Hemicryptophyta (e.g. H. dumetorum and H. purpiirascens, species which adapted themselves to the cold winter period of the Central European "Hemicryptophyton" climate by a reduction of stature and thereby the assumption of the Hemicryptophyton lifeform). The derived life-forms within the genus appear therefore not only as differentiating features, but they might also have been instrumental in occupying new areas and coenoses. The genus Grambe exhibits an even greater variety than Helleborus with regard to life-forms. The systematic elaboration of the genus, containing about 20 species and belonging to the family Gruciferae, was made by SCHULZ (19.19, 1930). The woody progenitors could not be found in Grambe, but three sections were successfully distinguished: the perennial and herbaceous Sacrocrambe, the annual Leptocrambe, and the subshrubby Dendrocrambe — in this genus therefore the systematic categories coincide with the life-form categories. The section Dendrocrambe contains merely three species: Grambe fruticosa, C. strigosa, and G. laevigata. All three are lignifying and supraterraneously ramifying species, inhabiting Madeira and the Canary Islands extremely rich in endemisms. Concerning their area, the species of this section with a Chamaephyton life-form are isolated from the herbaceous members of the Sacrocrambe section. This latter section is the richest in spe-