Checklist of Alien Vascular Plants of Hungary and Their Invasion Biological Characteristics

Abstract

As part of the PADAPT project, the authors compiled the invasion biological database of the alien vascular flora of Hungary, which contains the nativeness, residence time, introduc- tion mode and invasion status of 878 alien or cryptogenic taxa. In the absence of adequate evidence, the classification of some species was only possible into uncertain, transitional cat- egories. The definitions of most categories are compatible with several international termi- nologies, but are primarily based on Central European traditions. Of the 560 taxa that have already been naturalised in Hungary, 85 are invasive, and 22 of them are transformer alien vascular plants. Only 5 of these transformers are included in the European list of Invasive Alien Species of Union concern (Ailanthus altissima, Asclepias syriaca, Elodea nuttallii, Heracleum mantegazzianum and H. sosnowskyi), which require uniform preventive interventions and treatments throughout the continent, while the rest of transformers in Hungary (e.g., Robinia pseudoacacia, Fallopia × bohemica and Solidago gigantea) draw attention to the unique, local and/ or regional invasion biological situation of the Pannonian Basin and Central Europe.