B. Papp szerk.: Studia Botanica Hungarica 33. 2002 (Budapest, 2002)

Erzberger, Peter: Funaria muhlenbergii and Funaria pulchella (Funariaceae, Bryophyta) in Hungary

more extended field observations and cultivation experiments would be beneficial to obtain a deeper insight into these questions. Some of the intermediates mentioned by CRUNDWELL and NYHOLM (1974) were attributed to hybridisation between taxa. In the Funariaceae, hybrids have been described both between genera and between species (e.g. MÖNKEMEYER 1927, LOESKE 1929, SMITH 1978, PETTET 1964, ANDREWS 1918, 1942, BRITTON 1895, PODPERA 1954, WETTSTEIN 1932). In Hungary, F. muhlenbergii and F. pulchella grow in the same places and even form mixed stands, conditions that in principle could favour the formation of hybrids. Apart from these spatial requirements, a temporal condition crucial for hybridisation is the synchronous development of gametes. According to the results of the phenological analysis, the sporophytes of both species ripen in spring. Although no data are available on the development of gametangia, it seems reasonable to assume that, similarly to sporophyte ripening, formation of gametes and fertilisation also happen at about the same time in both species. In favour of this hypothesis are field observations suggesting that the life cycle of the species in question is completed within a rather short period of time (a few weeks or months). On the other hand, the collection data of the Hungarian plants suggest that there is on average a difference of about thirteen days in the development of sporophytes between F. muhlenbergii and F. pulchella (Fig. 6). Field observations on mixed populations of the two species would be needed to establish whether such a difference could in fact operate as an isolating mechanism preventing cross fertilisation. In the material examined in this study, no evidence for the existence of hybrids was found. It can therefore be concluded that, if hybrids between F. muhlenbergii and F. pulchella occur in Hungary, they must be quite rare. Although CRUNDWELL and NYHOLM (1974) showed that the type of F. mediterranea Lindb. belongs to F. muhlenbergii, according to the description in various handbooks (LOESKE 1929, LlMPRICHT 1895, MÖNKEMEYER 1927) the concept of F. mediterranea corresponds to F. pulchella. This is characterised (following LlMPRICHT 1895) among others by less serrate leaf margins, finely papillose spores, a shorter theca on a shorter neck, and less frequent stomata. It is therefore astonishing that the specimens labelled F. mediterranea form only a minor subset of the specimens revised as F. pulchella, and that on the other hand many specimens of F. muhlenbergii were labelled F. mediterranea, in other words that the coincidence of F. mediterranea and F. pulchella is as low as that. Boros obviously had tried to get a better understanding of the species complex, as is evident from some revision slips found in specimens of F. pulchella with notes like "I var.