Kaszab Zoltán (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 65. (Budapest 1973)

Ujhelyi, J.: Data to the systematics of the sections Bulbosae and Caespitosae of the genus Koeleria, XI.

ANNALES HISTORICO-NATURALES MUSEI NATIONALIS HUNGARICT Tomus 65. Budapest 1973. Data to the Systematics of the Sections Bulbosae and Caespitosae of the Genus Koeleria, XI. By J. ÚJHELYI, Budapest Abstract

—The taxon Koeleria Wilczekiana DOM. equals Koeleria hirsuta (LAM. et DC.) GAUD. ; while Koeleria, splendens PRESL var. pyramidata (DOM.) DOM. e. subvar. Ceilingeri DOM. equals Koeleria montana (Hausm.) D. T. var. geilingeri (DOM.) UJH. The taxon K. eriostachya (species collectiva) by DOMIN is an artificial grouping ; one of its constituents is Series Tuzsoniae ÚJHELYI, ser. n. its members being Koeleria tuzsonii UJH. sp. n., var. albanica (Dom.) ÚJHELYI comb, n., and Koeleria eriostachya PANÖ. Koeleria carniolica KERN, belongs to a distinct Series ; the Pyrenean varieties of II. Subsp. Schroeteriana DOM. equal K. pyrenaica (DOM.) UJH. In my latest Koeleria paper I presented the critical review of the taxa drawn under K. DOMIN'

s II. Sectio Caespitosae 2. Subsectio Caespitosae verae b. Tribus Cristatae Subtribus Robustae, as well as those of 3. Subsectio Pseudorepentes. On this occasion, too, my views

—expounded in detail at the International Evolutional Symposium at Tihany,. (ÚJHELYI 1972)—prevailed. Secondary habitat conditions alter considerably, but only phenotypically, the morphological features of plants. Excepting a few, there are hardly any places in Europe now where strong culture effects have not prevailed : deforestations, running back to thousands of years, and extensive grazing, advancing to alpine regions, disturbed to a greater or smaller extent most habitats of the Koelerias. As a consequence, the species, originally of delimited ecological requirements and members of distinct associations, now live in also other habitats, or the nature of their original habitat has partly also changed. It is only natural that in these disturbed, secondary habitats also the habits — the formation of rhizomes, leaf dimensions, panicle formation

—of plants suffered alterations. The reason why phenotypical characteristics were also included in the descriptions is that the taxa had been diagnosed solely from herbarial specimens deriving from floristical collections. As an overall consequence and with the added failure to recognize ploidy, there were born any numbers of infraspecific taxa, transituses, unjustified hybrids, and the evolvement of uncorroborated hierarchies. And this despite the fact that any unilateral assessment of features can lead to nothing but artificial systematizing. I have also repeatedly pointed out that DOMIN, though erecting his Koeleria system with an eye to evolutionary, the system concept of the turn of the century still affected his immense efforts. When establishing his classification, he preferred, according to hundreds of similar works, certain features against others and aligned his taxa to this yardstick. He considered species as abstract concepts. All this resulted in unrelated species being brought together into one group, or allies removed into distinct categories. According to the state of the herbarial specimens, phenotypes were elevated to specific or even higher ranks. The failure to recognize evolutionary and really existing species derived from the general practice, still in general use especially in Western Europe, that this view operating with socalled large-species (species collectiva). The greater to smaller categories of this kind of classification are in most cases lifeform evolvements (not the categories of RAUNKIAER'S system!) which display, within the basic limits of the genus, a strict correlation between the plant and its habitat. These fine life-form characteristics are genotypes, teherefore evolved at the formation of the species, but still convergent phenomena. DOMIN therefore drew under his great-species (species collectivae) subspecies which never had anything to do with each other in the course of evolution. I only stress this Ann. Hist.-nat. Mus. Nat. Hung., 1973, 65