Search

The paper presents the spontaneous vascular flora and the flora originating from old or contemporary plantations found in all six currently existing cemeteries located in immediate vicinity on the slopes of the Cytadela Park in Poznań. These studies were carried out in the years 2011–2014. Over this period, 255 species of vascular plants were found. The most interesting species include: Chionodoxa luciliae, Rumex rugosus, Aegopodium podagraria ‘Variegatum’, Ficaria verna f. plenifolia, Galanthus nivalis f. pleniflora, Ornithogalum boucheanum, Ranunculus repens ‘Plena’, and hybrids: Dactylis ×intercedens, Gagea ×pomeranica, Ornithogalum boucheanum × O. nutans, Viola cyanea × V. odorata. A great number of spring geophytes, namely 31 species, was also found. Among species occurring spontaneously outside the graves, some were new for Poland, e.g., Chionodoxa luciliae, Ornithogalum boucheanum × O. nutans, Viola cyanea × V. odorata, while others were new for the Wielkopolska region: Rumex rugosus, Dactylis ×intercedens, Gagea ×pomeranica, as well as new for Poznań: Erigeron ramosus, Lilium bulbiferum, Muscari armeniacus, M. neglectum, Pimpinella nigra, Poa subcaerulea, and Veronica hederifolia s. s.

The presence of 395 species of vascular flora at four rarely used cemeteries within the Poznań city was confirmed in 2010. Apart from naturally occurring species, cultivated species were noted equally. Among species appearing spontaneously between the graves, species new for the flora of Poland: Chionodoxa forbesii, Ch. luciliae, Puschkinia scilloides, new for the flora of Wielkopolska: Bidens ferulifolius, Hyacinthoides hispanica and new for the flora of Poznań: Erigeron ramosus, Lilium bulbiferum, Pimpinella nigra, Poa subcaerulea, Veronica hederifolia s.s., were recorded. Names of taxa originating from cultivation are underlined.

The paper presents the results of the study on seed morphology of eight following Allium species: A. pyrenaicum Costa & Vayr., A. rotundum L., A. sphaerocephalon L., A. vineale L., A. moly L., A. karataviense Regel, A. fistulosum L. and A. nutans L. The study confirmed the substantial diversity in testa characters, especially curvature and relief of anticlinal walls as well as microsculpture of outer periclinal walls. The occurrence of raised anticlinal walls - an unusually rare feature in Allium seeds, previously observed only in a few species, was found in A. karataviense. It was also found that the testa type in A. pyrenaicum did not match the typical character combination, described before for subg. Allium sect. Allium.

The paper presents a systematic list of vascular plant species recorded at 78 cemeteries in the Roztocze region and surrounding areas. 543 species belonging to 75 families were recorded. Of these, 99 foreign and 43 native species were cultivated. 41 species introduced by humans to cemeteries can be regarded as the so-called established cemetery species. These species, once planted on graves, continue to grow or even spread after people stopped cultivating them.

The genus Taraxacum is taxonomically complicated due to apomixis. Therefore, there are significant differences in knowledge of regional Taraxacum-Floras among European countries. Similarly, some taxa are well characterised with well-known distribution, whereas some ones are known e.g. from a single locality. Taraxacum scanicum of section Erythrosperma is one of the most common microspecies of this section in Europe. Recently, this taxon was split into three microspecies. In this study we map the distribution of three described taxa of this group in Poland, i.e. T. scanicum s.s., T. prunicolor and T. cristatum. The survey showed that T. scanicum has a similar distribution as T. prunicolor in Poland. This is in contrast with the hitherto known distribution of both taxa. T. cristatum was found at a single locality that is quite distant from the distribution in southern central Europe. We also provide with new morphological characteristics of achenes and pollen for T. scanicum s.s. and T. prunicolor.

A study of the three Malus species (M. domestica, M. sylvestris, and a hybrid species, M. domestica × M. sylvestris, which was named M. ×oxysepala) was carried out based on the morphological and micromorphological features and molecular investigation. Observations performed for 47 quantitative traits showed that this hybrid species exhibits intermediate values between M. domestica and M. sylvestris, or are similar to traits of one of the parents. Sepals proved to be the best diagnostic feature because they were acuminate and much longer than sepals in M. domestica and M. sylvestris. Seed testa cells are distinct, rimmed with straight anticlinal walls and strongly bulged periclinal walls. Simultaneous genetic analyses based on PCR RAPD reactions fully confirmed earlier morphological observations. Genetic profiles of the hybrid obtained with the use of 30 primers, next to species-specific amplification products, contain common products with each of the parents. However, both the profile analysis and the dendrogram constructed on its basis showed that the hybrid is genetically closer to M. sylvestris.