B. Papp szerk.: Studia Botanica Hungarica 36. 2005 (Budapest, 2005)

Szollát, György; Standovár, Tibor: Botanical values of the Öreg-hegy and Juhász-halom near Csomád

chatum has a Pontic-Submediterranean distribution and it does not occur northeast of the Gödöllői-dombság, similarly to the Submediterranean Fumana procumbens. Another Submediterranean species, Globularia punctata has only two known localities east of the Öreg-hegy (Gyöngyös, Aggteleki-karszt). The also Submediterranean Orlaya grandiflora has only two other localities in the Gödöllői-dombság (Mogyoród, Sikáros; Isaszeg, Szentgyörgyi erdő; SZÉNÁSI, V. and CsÁKY, P., ex verb.) (and occurs only in the Tokaji-hegység and on Szarvaskő further northeast). Prunella laciniata is treated as a locally (Gödöllői-dombság) rare species (CSÁKY, P., ex verb.). The Central European species, Scabiosa canescens, has only three known localities east of the Gödöllői-dombság (and of the Duna-Tisza köze), and it reaches the eastern limits of its distribution in Hungary and in Poland. Iris variegata should also be mentioned among the rare species, since it occurs only at a single location on the southerly slope of the Oldal-hegy, though one would expect much wider distribution of this otherwise not rare species of steppe grassland developing both on sand and on more solid bedrocks. Astragalus austriacus is treated as a locally (Gödöllői-dombság) rare species of continental steppes. The occurrence of two Fagetalia species, Carex sylvatica and Corydalis solida (CSÁKY, P., ex verb.) has also local importance. The only strictly protected species of the area, Colchicum arenarium is an endemic species that is threatened because of the small size of its population. (The protected plant species occurring in the Öreg-hegy are listed in Table 1). Vegetation of the Juhász-halom Juhász-halom is a shallow, several hundreds metre long valley northwest of Öreg-hegy. On both sides it is bordered by cultivated lands. Since bedrock is built up by a mixture of calcareous sandstone, sand, gravel and loess silt, vegetation is composed of stands of sand meadow-steppe, sandy pastures and on smaller areas meadow-steppe. The closed grassland vegetation is threatened by intensive invasion of shrubs - mostly of Crataegus monogyna - in the whole valley. These grasslands are secondary in nature, and they were grazed until recently. Expansion of shrubs has been intensified since grazing was stopped. The whole valley is rather small, which makes the vegetation more vulnerable, especially if we consider that there is a relatively busy trail, and that two small illegal pits had been opened recently. As a result of all these, most of the vegetation of Juhász-halom could be classified as intermediately degraded, with some patches of seriously degraded secondary grasslands, and with only a few remnants of truly semi-natural grasslands. The dominance of monocotyledons is characteristic of these grasslands as well.