New Seed bank records for species of the Hungarian flora

Abstract

Seed bank types of 120 Hungarian plant species were classified after the evaluation of the soil- and vegetation samples collected in the area of Sopron hills. Seed bank types of 75 species were already classified in the seed ecological database of the Hungarian flora, but the seed bank types of further 45 species have been unknown in the database. The correspondence between the known and the newly determined seed bank types is 56%. Seed bank types established in our study denote longer viability of the seeds only for six species. Because of the seedling emergence method underestimates the seed longevity, these results should be completed with further identification of non-germinated, dormant seeds. The seed bank types of 23 species which have been unknown in the database managed to identify most assuredly. The other species have scant or conflicting data, so we can’t determinate the seed bank types undoubtly. However, publishing these uncertain data were considered worth, as they can form base of other studies. To sum up, it can be stated that any data imparted about the species of Hungarian flora is useful to the cognition of the seed bank behaviour, nevertheless we need as many as possible comparative study to classify the seed bank type.