B. Papp szerk.: Studia Botanica Hungarica 32. 2001 (Budapest, 2001)

Bauer, Norbert: Vascular flora of the hill Strázsa-hegy and its vicinity (Pilis Mts, Hungary)

Simonkai near Budapest was mentioned by Gáyer from the surroundings of the Kis- and Nagy-Strázsa-hegy in the vicinity of Esztergom as a "not very rare" taxon. He highlighted the richness of Pulsatilla nigricans in colour varieties. He listed the red (f. purpureifolia) and yellow flowered (f.flaviflora) forms, the variety with yellow corolla inside (var. flava) and the bright green f. chlorantha from the slopes of the Csurgó- and Tábla-hegy. A white flowered variety of Pulsatilla grandis was mentioned from the Nagy-Strázsa-hegy also. JÁVORKA (1903, 1904, 1940), DOMOKOS (1934), CSAPODY (1935, 1939), ZSÁK (1941), KÁRPÁTI (1935, 1947) and HORÁNSZKY (1957) published numerous floristical data regarding the Pilis Mts or area of Dorog and Esztergom. Ádám BOROS visited the Pilis and the Visegrád Mts several times between 1919 and 1954; he visited Strázsa-hegy and its vicinity four times. He recorded 101 vascular plant species and 18 moss species in his diaries, including the occurrence of Carex ericetorum (BOROS 1938), the presence of which has not been confirmed since then. On July 8, 1919 between Kenyérmező-major and "Sátorkő-tanya", near the former shadoof - while checking on certain data of Feichtinger - he located a nice, natural looking sandy area where he recorded, among others, Dianthus serotinus, Ephedra distachya and Centaurea pseudo-rhenana (arenaria x rhenana). He summarised his findings in the Phytogeography of the Pilis Mts (BOROS 1953). László Vajda visited the area not only as a plant photographer but also as a bryologist, along with fellow researcher Ádám Boros; he was especially interested in the extremely variable Pulsatilla. During the survey of the grass communities of the Little Hungarian Plain, BORHIDI (1956) examined the sand grass areas located in the outskirts of Esztergom-kertváros and partly lying in our area of study. Interesting floristical data regarding the sand-steppe grasses near Dorog are also mentioned in his paper along with the plant sociological observations published. Later Strázsa-hegy and the neighbouring areas served as a place for military practise, so all research had to be stopped for decades. At the end of the 80s and the beginning of the 90s botanical research was resumed on the neighbouring blocks of the Pilis Mts, on Kétágú-hegy at Kesztölc and on Fehér-Szirt and in some foothill areas of the mountains (SZERDAHELYI 1988, 1989, PENKSZA 1991, 1992a, b, PENKSZA etal. 1994, 1995, ASZTALOS et al. 1995). Following the withdrawal of the military activities, the lesser known portions of the area have further attracted the attention of botanists. SEREGÉLYES and CSOMÓS (1993) prepared a study about the main botanical merits of Strázsa-hegy. Subsequently, KUN (1994), KUN and SEREGÉLYES (1995), BAUER (1996), and BAUER and BARNA (1999) have also made contributions. The main purpose of these studies was to provide support for the efforts of nature conservation, but they