Ábrahám Levente (szerk.): Válogatott tanulmányok IV. - Natura Somogyiensis 15. / Miscellanea 4. (Kaposvár, 2009)
Bódis Judit - Molnár Edit: Himantoglossum adriaticum H. Baumann populáció hosszú távú monitorozása a Keszthelyi-hegységben
Bódis J. & Molnár E.: Himantoglossum adriaticum 29 The H. adriaticum populations are not too frequent in Hungary. The present Hungarian populations show spatial and temporal variability in sizes. The abundances small in the majority of sites, varied from 2-3 individuals to 60-70 ones, but there are populations with more hundred speciemens (data originated from the reports of the Hungarian Biodiversity Monitoring System). In this paper we concentrate on the following questions:- do the reproductive traits studied vary over time, what extent is the temporal variability?- does a so called ’good orchid year’ mean a reproductive success also, that is, in the years when there are a lot of flowering individuals, do they grow higher and develop more flowers and seedpods than in the years when there are only a few flowering individuals (a so called ‘bad orchid year’)? Material and methods The species studied Himantoglossum adriaticum is a perennial herb with two underground tubers. H. adriaticum has no strong goat odour as H. hircinum, and there are narrower leaves in the rosette, the inflorescence is looser and has fewer flowers, the helmet is smaller and closed, the spur is shorter, the colour of the flower is reddish-brown and the labellum is less twisted, but the cut is deep (Baumann 1978). The morphometrical values of aboveground parts, both reproductive and vegetative organs of the species was described by Baumann and KOnkele (1982), Dénes et al. 1993, Molnár V. (1999), Bódis and Almádi (1998). The leaves of H. adriaticum, similarly to other species distributed in Mediterranean region, appear after the late August and/or early September rainfalls and have an intensive growth period until the frosts come. The plants assimilate during the winter, except if there is a snow cover. A new growth period follows in early spring, when the medium sized and the large individuals grow 2-3 new leaves. After this period the inflorescence, which had been initialized in the former vegetation year, begins to develop. The time of flowering is generally the middle of June, and it lasts for 2-3 weeks. It takes another 3 weeks until the seedpods will be ripened. The leaves of the rosette will have withered till the flowering time, but it can be delayed by wet weather (Bódis and Botta-Dukát 2008). Study site H. adriaticum was studied in Keszthely Hills, in western Hungary, at the boundary of the village Gyenesdiás and Keszthely town (Fig. 1). The orchid population was found by I. Szabó, on both sides of the Pilikán-Szoroshad minor road, in dolomite grassland, on the edge of the forest (Szabó 1987). In the study area calciphilous oak woodland, shrub woodland and pine plantation form a vegetation mosaic with dolomite grassland. Habitats are disturbed, the vegetation is degraded (owing to mainly human activities). H. adriaticum grows in the grassland near the road and on the edge of the expanding shrubs and trees. Methods and data analysis The flowering individuals were searched and counted along the 1 km long section of the road in every June, from 1992 to 2008. The number of inflorescences and the number of flowers per spike were counted, the heights of the spikes and the lengths of the inflo-
