L. Hably szerk.: Studia Botanica Hungarica 21. 1989 (Budapest, 1989)

Mészáros, Sándor: Comparison and relations of the Hungarian and the Mongolian flora

STUDIA BOTANICA HUNGARICA (Anten: Fragmenta Botanica) XXL 1999 » 53-74 Comparison and relations of the Hungarian and the Mongolian flora by S. MÉSZÁROS (Received September 28,1988) Abstract: On the basis of the comparison of taxa of ferns and flowering plants, we can report on the agreement of 90.9% of plant families, 60.0% of plant genera and 17.3% of species. Most of the common species are composed of Holarctic, Eurasian and Continental flora elements, the latter ones enriching mainly the flora of the Hungarian forestal steppe as well as the "puszta" on loessic, sandy and sodic soil. Mutual relations of the flora between the two regions are demonstrated here on the basis of the history of the Crepis species within the two countries. The investigation of floristical relations with foreign countries in Hungarian phytogeographical literature concentrated on the analysis of floristical elements mainly, following the basic monographies of SOÓ (1939) and MÁTHÉ (1940, 1941). The role of a given group of floristical elements within the Hungarian flora was studied, e.g., CSAPODY (1932) investigated the role of Mediterranean flora elements. SOÓ (1939) was concerned with that of the boreal relict plants, and a presentation of the spectrum of floristical elements became a seemingly compulsory item of cenological papers. At the same time, concrete comparison of the flora with other countries or rather, regions were almost exclusively met in foreign botanical papers only [like that of MEUSEL (1969) or HARA (1972), dealing with the relation of the Asian and the North American floras recently], though this latter approach can also promote the understanding on the relation between floras. A comparison with the Mongolian flora can be supported by, at least, three arguments. In the first place, the area and flora of Mongolia forms a primeval part of the Central Asian mountainous region (GRUBOV 1955), comprising the mountain ranges Altai, Tiensan and the Himalayas where, at least, one of the evolutionary centres of angiosperms has been supposed (BORHIDI 1968). Secondly, Continental floristic elements comprise an essential part (14.5%) of the Hungarian flora, denoting, together with Pontian - Mediterranean elements, immigration of plants from Eastern direction. Finally, the flora of Mongolia became adequately studied only recently, grace to the comprehensive floristical monographies of GRUBOV (1955,1982), thus the task of actual comparison could become topical in our days. It is worth to note as well that in spite of the more than 7000 km distance separating the two regions, Mongolia has several endowments in common with Hungary. Lying along roughly the same latitudes within the Holarctic floristical kingdom, it contains some matching environmental formations (zones of forestal steppe and grassy steppe), and the number of flowering plant species described is roughly equal to ours. At the same time, the Mongolian