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

Barina, Zoltán, Harmos, Krisztián; Schmotzer, András: Orobanche cernua in Hungary

To our present-day knowledge Orobanche cernua is a rare but characteristic plant of Hungarian salt communities (PUJADAS-SALVÀ and VELASCO (2000) published it from Spain from loamy gypsaceous soils). Host plants of Orobanche cernua By the authors experiences the host plants of Orobanche cernua are (mainly) Artemisia species. Reports on its presence on Helianthus annuus may have been based on confusion with Orobanche cumana. In Hungary its only host plant may be Artemisia santonicum L. GRULICH and FERÁKOVÁ (1999) mention O. cernua subsp. cumana as being parasitic on Artemisia santonicum. According to the authors' observation, Orobanche cumana grows exclusively in sunflower cultures in Hungary, as in Spain (PUJADAS-SALVÀ and VELASCO 2000), and in agreement with KREUTZ (1995) (but cf. SZATALA-né 1953). The separation of O. cernua and O. cumana became more difficult due to the fact that the host plants of Orobanche cumana originally were Artemisia species in Asia (VENKOV and BOZOUKOV 1994, PUJADAS-SALVÀ and VELASCO 2000). Moreover, according to LAZAROV and ANDREJEV (1968) and PETROV (1970) Artemisia maritima L. (= A. santonicum L.) could be the host plant which promoted the spreading of O. cumana to Central Europe. Differences between Orobanche cernua and O. cumana Orobanche cernua is a small plant with dense inflorescence, Orobanche cumana is taller with lax inflorescence. The flowers of O. cernua are dark blue to violet while those of O. cumana vary from whitish to pale blue. In Hungary O. cernua occurs in alkaline soils while O. cumana on cultivated lands. The latter one in Hungary grows on Helianthus annuus (KREUTZ 1995, but cf. LAZAROV and ANDREJEV 1968 and PETROV 1970) while O. cernua on Artemisia santonicum. PUJADAS-SALVÀ and VELASCO (2000) mention many further morphological differences between the two taxa. CONCLUSIONS Orobanche cumana Wallr. has been known in Hungary since about 1950 as an adventive species, but Orobanche cernua Loefl. was found only very recently and may be a native plant of the Hungarian flora. Orobanche cernua Loefl. as a morphologically separable taxon is a new member of the Hungarian flora, but the