B. Papp szerk.: Studia Botanica Hungarica 34. 2003 (Budapest, 2003)

Szurdoki, Erzsébet: Peat mosses of North Hungary

of S. squarrosum in Júlia-liget (JAKAB and LES KU 1995, 1996, JAKAB 1997) on the soil of a Salici pentandrae-Betuletum pubescentis forest. Some populations have disappeared, while there are numerous new S. squarrosum populations in this region. These are of great importance, because this species has become very rare in other parts of Hungary. It still has relatively large populations in Nádas-tó and in the Zemplén Mts, but the others are small. The largest population has disappeared from Bence-tó by natural water replenishment, and this process also pointed out the sensitivity of this species. In the western part of Hungary, the recent process of desiccation of swamps decreases its potential habitats (ÓDOR et al. 2002). Sphagnum teres (Schimp.) Angstr. Small to medium-sized plant with conspicuous stem bud. It has green or sometimes brown colour. Stem is normally pale to dark brown and the stem leaves are large, mostly lingulate with eroded apex. Branch leaves are large, closely overlapping and only apices divergent slightly (DANIELS and EDDY 1985). S. teres is a rare peat moss in Hungary, and most of its earlier known populations have disappeared. In North Hungary it is also very rare (Table 1); earlier it lived in Kis-tó (DULAI and VOJTKÓ 1991), Kis-Mohos (CZENTHE 1985), Nagy-Mohos (SZURDOKI et al. in press), in the Zemplén Mts (VAJDA 1969) and in Zsid-tó (FINTHA 1994) (Table 1 ). All five populations have disappeared by the end of the 1990s. No new data of this species have been recorded neither from North Hungary nor from the other parts of the country. Presumably, most of the earlier populations are damaged. Section Subsecunda The species of this section are variable in size, colour and ecology. Their stem always has cortex (1-3 layers of hyaline cells) and the internal cylinder is occasionally brown. Branches are usually short, blunt-ended and curved, especially the spreading ones (DANIELS and EDDY 1985). In Hungary, most of their populations live in habitats of relatively high pH and in areas of considerably changing water table. Of this group 5 species (S. subsecundum, S. inundatum, S. auriculatum, S. platyphyllum and S. contortum) live in Europe and all of them were described from Hungary (DANIELS and EDDY 1985, ORBÁN and VAJDA 1983), but S. inundatum