Unique wetlands of the Pannonian Basin host an unexpected Batrachium diversity, including several morphologically cryptic cytotypes unknown elsewhere in central Europe. These lineages are closer to Mediterranean taxa than to their central European neighbours. preslia.cz/doi/preslia.2026.105.html

New distribution maps for 87 vascular plant taxa reveal a flora under pressure: several species now survive at a single Czech site and four are nationally extinct. In contrast, taxonomic revision reveals 22 distinct escaped Cotoneaster species. preslia.cz/doi/preslia.2026.001.html

🌿 Coming soon: Preslia 98(1)! New insights into central European flora: 🔹 87 taxa mapped reveal declines, extinctions, and newly recognised escaped diversity 🔹 Pannonian wetlands host unique Batrachium with Mediterranean links Stay tuned! 📖 #Botany #PlantScience #Taxonomy #Evolution #Ecology

Garden centres can host surprisingly diverse alien floras, including species not yet recorded in the country. A survey from Hungary shows they can also act as hubs of unintentional introductions and spread, including invasive species. preslia.cz/doi/preslia.2025.659.html

Why are allopolyploids common in Batrachium, but no diploid hybrids? This puzzle is now solved: a large-scale screening uncovered a natural hybrid between diploid species, providing new insight into the early stages of polyploid evolution. preslia.cz/doi/preslia.2025.637.html

Pannonian sand grasslands persist, but their specialists fade. Species adapted to grazing and dry, nutrient-poor soils decline, while generalists and nutrient-demanding species increase, driven by succession, eutrophication and abandoned management. preslia.cz/doi/preslia.2025.613.html

🌿 Coming soon: Preslia 97(4)! Three new papers shed light on biodiversity loss, plant evolution and overlooked drivers of plant invasions: 🔹 Pannonian sand grasslands lose specialists due to succession and eutrophication

Nine cryptic Aneura lineages confirmed in Slovenia, incl. two new for Europe. Molecular and morphological data reveal overlooked diversity in liverworts and refine species delimitation, distribution, and habitat preferences. preslia.cz/doi/preslia.2025.589.html

In Slovenian semi-dry grasslands, over half of species are clonal. Clonal traits vary with soil conditions and community type, highlighting the need for fine-scale habitat management to preserve species and functional diversity. preslia.cz/doi/preslia.2025.567.html

Spatially uneven sampling of species occurrences can mislead biodiversity research. A new study of Czech flora by Klímová et al. reveals how different methods mitigate the distortions in the patterns of species richness. preslia.cz/doi/preslia.2025.541.html

1,615 alien plant taxa now listed for Austria, +49% in 20 years! Mostly garden escapes or stowaways. The updated checklist includes origins, habitats, impacts, and is a key tool for invasion science and policy. preslia.cz/doi/preslia.2025.413.html

🌿 Preslia 97(3) is almost here, bringing new insights into plant invasions, diversity and traits in Europe: 🔹 1615 neophyte taxa in Austria, nearly half since 2000, mostly garden escapes 🔹 Geological heterogeneity and land use history shape spatial patterns of species richness across the Czech flora

Field surveys across Poland reveal that Neotinea ustulata survives mainly in dry, open grasslands on shallow soils. Habitat extremity, not conservation effort, emerges as the key to persistence of this rapidly declining orchid. preslia.cz/doi/preslia.2025.217.html

A comprehensive survey reveals 61 bramble species in the Bohemian Forest, including 30 new regional records and 5 species new to science. The study highlights remarkable regional endemism and the role of human-made habitats in species distribution.

Lakes in the Alps hide a surprising story: Alpine populations are genetically identical to the Nordic Ranunculus confervoides, yet show unexpected haplotype diversity and novel hybrids, revealing a complex evolutionary history. preslia.cz/doi/preslia.2025.191.html

🌿 Coming soon: Preslia 97(2)! Highlights include: 🔹 Unexpected genetic richness and hybridization in aquatic Ranunculus reveals hidden diversity in Alpine lakes 🔹 Harsh habitats help: survival of Neotinea ustulata in Poland tied to dry, extreme grassland conditions

Pulsatilla grandis is vanishing! A 19-year monitoring study in Czechia revealed a 20% population loss and a 25% decline in flowering individuals. Effective habitat management is crucial to reverse this trend and protect other endangered dry grassland species.

Decline of the most beautiful Czech orchid, and spatial and temporal dynamics of 102 other species in another instalment of the series on the distribution of plants in the Czech Republic. preslia.cz/doi/preslia.2025.175.html

Despite declining SO₂ emissions, acidifying air pollution still impacts epiphytic bryophyte communities in central Europe. Ash trees with higher bark pH hosted richer, more sensitive assemblages but were as affected by SO₂ as oaks. preslia.cz/doi/preslia.2025.157.html

Cytogeography of almost 4800 individuals of aggressive invasive alien Solidago canadensis and S. gigantea in the Western Carpathians and adjacent regions. New cytotypes for invaded range, their probable origin and importance of correct taxonomic identification. preslia.cz/doi/preslia.2025.129.html

Enigmatic Stipa epilosa from the Alps underwent morphometric, AFLP and microhabitat analyses. No genetic or ecological differences between S. eriocaulis and S. epilosa were found, and morphological variation formed a continuum. preslia.cz/doi/preslia.2025.175.html

New issue (97/1) is going to be published! - Distributions of vascular plants in the Czech Republic (Kaplan et al.) - Assessing the future of Pulsatilla grandis (Tichý et al.) - Cytogeography of invasive Solidago in central Europe (Skokanová et al.) (cont. in 2/2)

An international team led by our scientists discovered 43 new species of lichens for the Czech Republic, 12 completely new to science and 2 new genera. Combining environmental DNA data and taxonomic surveys accelerates the discovery of new species. More @preslia.cz www.preslia.cz/article/pdf?...

Expansive plants are native but behave similarly to alien invasive plants and can also have negative impacts. The first catalogue of the expansive flora of the Czech Republic includes 126 taxa, with the regions and habitats, where they spread. preslia.cz/doi/preslia.2024.299.html

Our new paper led by Irena Axmanová in @preslia.cz focuses on "expansive plant species", i.e. native plants that are increasing their abundance in the landscape or dominance in local communities. See more info in the thread by @krystofchytry.bsky.social

The first-ever list (or catalogue) of expansive species for the Czech Republic. 🌱 Including 126 species. More to read in the paper itself, led by Irena Axmanová and published in @preslia.cz. www.preslia.cz/article/view...

Urtica kioviensis is a rare species of river basins. Hybridization with the widespread U. dioica was confirmed at six sites in central Europe. It affects genetic integrity of U. kioviensis and can pose a risk to small populations of this species. preslia.cz/doi/preslia.2024.329.html #hybridization

New issue (96/4) is out! - Catalogue of expansive plants in the Czech Republic (Axmanová et al.) - Urtica kioviensis threatened by hybridization (Urfus et al.) - Environmental DNA data and taxonomic surveys of lichens (Vondrák et al.) See more at www.preslia.cz #Botany #PlantScience #Evolution

Gravel bars in the Elbe River host specific vegetation, incl. alien and endangered plants. The duration of flooding determines the vegetation, but not the seed bank composition. The seed bank acts as a reservoir, allowing regeneration after disturbance. preslia.cz/doi/preslia....

A botanical survey showed that the railway tracks host different aliens than the station surroundings. This indicates that the station surroundings are not stepping stones for the further spread of introduced species into the landscape. preslia.cz/doi/preslia....

Dactylorhiza baltica and D. ruthei are taxa of unclear taxonomic status. Both share a common evolutionary history and have a similar genetic background but maintain phenotypic distinctness. They deserve to be treated as separate taxa. preslia.cz/doi/preslia....

New overview of alien plants in Europe. A comprehensive compilation of national inventories has identified 7,335 alien vascular plants and outlined the remaining gaps in knowledge of Europe’s alien flora. @botzool.bsky.social #alienspecies preslia.cz/doi/preslia....

Preslia, a journal of the Czech Botanical Society, adheres to the principles for responsible publishing that promote a healthy publishing environment and supports the scientific community. See peeer.net/journals/

Functional traits mediate how species and communities respond to environmental gradients. In our study we focused on five dominant grasses in two grassland types. preslia.cz/doi/preslia....

Seasonal desiccation of mountain bog pools in the Ore Mts, Czech Republic, is caused by high summer temperatures and changing precipitation patterns. We have shown that this is a key stressing factor for desmid microbiota in phytobenthic communities. preslia.cz/doi/preslia....

Let off the leash: unusually high frequency of hybrids, emergence of new cytotypes, and introgressive hybridization discovered in Elymus wheatgrasses in White Carpathians Mts. preslia.cz/doi/preslia....

The city of Brno has the best-documented urban flora in the Czech Republic. Over an 11-yr period, we recorded 1,492 spontaneously occurring vascular plant taxa, including many endangered or alien. preslia.cz/doi/preslia.... @botzool.bsky.social

Although springs are endangered habitats, their vegetation has not been consistently classified in Europe. New classification scheme and expert system were prepared by an international team based on an analysis of continental dataset of vegetation plots. preslia.cz/doi/preslia....

12,000 years of human-vegetation interactions in central Europe: Pollen anthropogenic indicators were revisited using large-scale pollen and archaeological datasets. preslia.cz/doi/preslia....

Reference databases of DNA barcodes are prerequisites for molecular identification but they are still lacking for many groups of organisms. Martin7, a new DNA barcode database for European epiphytic lichens, the first one in lichenology, was established. preslia.cz/doi/preslia....

First direct evidence of the persistence of Rhododendron tomentosum in sandstone landscapes of northern Bohemia throughout the Holocene. This species is adapted to a specific habitat and requires long-term stability with repeated local forest disturbances. preslia.cz/doi/preslia....

A list of 190 salt-tolerant plants of central Europe with calculated salt index (1 to 9) indicating the salt preference is out now. Only 45 of them make up the group of obligate halophytes, species growing exclusively in natural saline environment. preslia.cz/doi/preslia....

Cytogeography of 1,159 individuals of Fallopia sect. Reynoutria, one of the most invasive alien plants, in the Western Carpathians and adjacent Pannonia. Rare aneuploid chromosome counts and evidence for a climatically determined distribution detected. preslia.cz/doi/preslia....

Threatened plant species occur in species-richer communities than non-threatened species on average. However, they occur across the entire richness gradient. For instance, threatened Sclerochloa dura grows in vegetation of very low species richness. preslia.cz/doi/preslia....

Taxonomic structure within Allium paniculatum complex in central and eastern Europe. Three species distinguished, detailed description and photographs provided. Allium marginatum resurrected as a distinct species in the Pannonian and Transylvanian Basins. preslia.cz/doi/preslia....

Five plant species identified as new neophytes for the Czech Republic. Erechtites hieraciifolius has become invasive, mainly in forest clearings, facilitated by recent bark beetle outbreak. Cynodon dactylon has regionally started to spread as well. preslia.cz/doi/preslia....

Sequence-based phylogeny, achene and genome size, and GC content support the separation of the genera Lophiolepis and Epitrachys from Cirsium. Polyploidy and descending dysploidy rarely occur among 119 analyzed taxa of the subtribe Carduinae. preslia.cz/doi/preslia....

Understanding drivers of species performance is crucial for their effective conservation. Growth and flowers of the Czech endemic Minuartia smejkalii were negatively affected by its competitor, interacted with abiotic factors in complex ways and varied over time. preslia.cz/doi/preslia....

Database of Lichens and Bryophytes of the Czech Republic (DaLiBor) is a new tool for occurrence data gathering, standardising, validating and sharing. Currently DaLiBor hosts 662,610 records: 506,578 (76 %) bryophytes and 156,032 (24 %) lichens. preslia.cz/doi/preslia....

Multilayer landscape classification offers a way to capture complex landscape pattern in more detail than the widespread single layer option. A formalized solution is provided relying on the landscape's full vegetation potential. preslia.cz/doi/preslia....