L. Lőkös szerk.: Studia Botanica Hungarica 27-28. 1996-97 (Budapest, 1978)

Höhn, Mária: Vascular flora of the Kelemen (Calimani) Mts on the side of the Maros (Mures) river drainage area

Studia bot. hung. 27-28, pp. 75-108, 1996-97(1998) VASCULAR FLORA OF THE KELEMEN (CALIMANI) MTS ON THE SIDE OF THE MAROS (MURES) RIVER DRAINAGE AREA M. HÖHN Department of Botany, University of Horticulture and Food Industry H-1502 Budapest, Pf. 53, Hungary This paper sums up the existing floristical data (list of species), and characteristics about the territory of the Kelemen (Calimani) Mts on side of the river Maros (Mures) drainage area, including also the river defile between Toplica and Déda. The results of a ten years work are completed with former existing data from the territory. Key words: Kelemen (Calimani) Mts, Romania, list of species, critical review INTRODUCTION At present there is no comprehensive study about the flora of the Kelemen Mts in contrast to the other East Carpathian massifs. Why researchers did not present too much interest for this massif until now may be attributed to the following reasons: the neighbouring massifs Máramaros (Maramures), Radna (Rodnei) and Beszterce (Bistrita) floristically were more promising, and this part of the Kelemen Mts is hardly accessible. In this paper, that summarises the results of a ten years work, I try to process former existing data with my owns. In the study of great importance I concentrated to the flora of the Maros defile between Toplica and Déda, which is interesting for its geographical position: situated between the Kelemen and Görgényi (Gurghiu) massifs, it is the biggest cross-section through the Neogenic volcanic chain of the Eastern Carpathians. Its climate has specific montane characteristics, although it lies only at 600 m (submontane region). On the east end the defile is bordering the Gyergyói (Gheorgheni) col, on the west end the Transsylvanián basin. Probably, that is why there are important differences between the flora of the upper and lower part, although the heights of the sea level decrease along the defile only 50 m. Geographical, natural factors The studied territory includes the southern part of the Kelemen Mts side of the Maros river drainage area.