B. Papp szerk.: Studia Botanica Hungarica 38. 2007 (Budapest, 2007)

Papp, Beáta; Erzberger, Peter: Contributions to the bryophyte flora of Montenegro

The Lovcen Mts rise from the borders of the Adriatic basin closing the long and twisting bays of Boka Kotorska. They are protected as a national park, covering 64 km

2 with an altitude range of 985 m to 1,749 m. In these mountain ranges, Mediterranean climate meets the moderately continental climate of the mountain belt. The carboniferous rocks of the Lovcen Mts appear in many special karst formations. The Gulf of Kotor, sometimes called Europe's southernmost fjord, is in fact a submerged river canyon of the disintegrated Bokelj River, which used to run from the high mountain plateaus of Mt Orjen. The gulf is composed of several smaller broad gulfs, united by narrower channels, forming one of the finest natural harbours in Europe. The gulf inlet formerly was a river system, then very intensive tectonics and karstification processes led to the disintegration of this river. The length of the gulf is 28 km and its water surface is 87 km

2

. The Gulf of Kotor lies within the Mediterranean climate belt: while summers are hot and sunny, the autumn, winter and spring are the rainy seasons. A peculiarity of the littoral Dinarids is the precipitation regime: at the Gulf of Kotor, Mt Orjen receives Europe's most heavy rainfall (4-5,000 mm per year). Just as the monsoon rain in other parts of the world is seasonally distributed, in November thunderstorms sometimes pour 2,000 1/m

2 of water in several days, while August is frequently completely dry, leading to forest fires. Strong, cold downslope winds of the Bora type arrive in winter. Gusts reach 250 km/h and can lead to a significant fall of temperatures in few hours with freezing temperatures that cause damage in most Mediterranean agricultural fields (e.g. orchards). The coastal area of the Gulf of Kotor is on the UNESCO List of Cultural and Natural Heritage. METHODS The collecting trip was made in October 2003. All main habitat types such as forests, grasslands, stream valleys were visited, and bryophytes were collected from different substrates (soil, exposed and shady rocks, tree barks and decaying wood). The specimens are deposited in the Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest (BP) and in the Botanical Museum, Berlin Dahlem (B).