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Mannia triandra (Scop.) Grolle is a rare thalloid liverwort species, known from a few, mostly sporadic, historical records in Croatia. In the recent years, two findings have been recorded on Mt Žumberačka Gora and one from Plitvice Lakes, and subsequently published. During 2022, two adjacent populations close to these previously known localities were found, but also a first locality in Gorski Kotar region (in the canyon of the River Kamačnik) was recorded. In addition, an old literature record from the area of Dubrovnik city from the beginning of the 20th century was found while browsing literature for this paper. Thanks to these new findings, we are now closer to a better understanding of the species ecology and habitat preferences in Croatia., Mannia triandra (Scop.) Grolle je rijetka talozna jetrenjarka. U Hrvatskoj je donedavno bila poznata samo iz povijesnih sporadičnih nalaza. U proteklih nekoliko godina objavljena su dva nalaza sa Žumberačke gore i jedan s Plitvičkih jezera. Tijekom 2022., zabilježene su dvije populacije blizu tih ranije poznatih nalazišta, ali i prvi nalaz u Gorskom kotaru, u kanjonu rijeke Kamačnik. Tijekom pisanja ovog priloga pronađen je i stari literaturni nalaz ove vrste s početka 20. stoljeća iz okolice grada Dubrovnika. Zahvaljujući recentnim nalazima, na korak smo boljem razumijevanju ekologije i potencijalnim staništima ove vrste u Hrvatskoj.

Elodea canadensis Michx. and Elodea nuttallii (Planch.) H. St. John, two invasive aquatic plants from North America, have coexisted in European waterways since the early 20th century. They were first documented in Croatia in 1894 and 2006, respectively. New localities of both species were discovered during the study which ran from 2016 to 2022 as part of the annual Water Framework Directive monitoring that covered the entire Croatian territory (786 sampling points in total). Elodea canadensis was found in 30 sampling points, mostly in rivers and E. nuttallii in 15 sampling points, mostly in channels. Nearly three quarters (72, 5%) of all Elodea sampling points are in the Pannonian ecoregion, while 15% are in the Continental-Dinaric region. Elodea canadensis was discovered for the first time in the Mediterranean-Dinaric region in five sampling points (12, 5% of records) in the river Cetina. Chemical and hydromorphological analyses were performed, as well as plant relevés. Fitting multivariate models to species abundance revealed the ecological reaction of E. canadensis and E. nuttallii to environmental descriptors.

Traditional Christmas nativity scenes (manger scenes, nativity sets) depicting the birth of Christ are commonly decorated with both vascular plants and bryophytes. Although the tradition of using bryophytes as ornamentals in nativity scenes is widespread and found in many countries (a long tradition in Croatia dates back to the 17th century), there are almost no comprehensive studies of bryophyte diversity engaged in this tradition. The aim of this study was to document the diversity of decorative bryophytes sold during the Advent season at farmers’ markets in Croatia (Southeastern Europe). Twenty-eight farmers’ markets in the two largest Croatian cities (Zagreb and Split) were studied in the search for local vendors selling bryophytes during the pre- Christmas season. Among 275 collected specimens, 43 moss and four liverwort species were identified. The most frequent species were Hypnum cupressiforme, Homalothecium sericeum and Ctenidium molluscum. Mats, wefts and tufts were the most common life-forms, while pleurocarpous prevailed over acrocarpous mosses, as they are usually pinnately branched and form large carpets, suitable for decorations. The overall selection of bryophytes and the decorations made of them were more diverse and abundant in Zagreb, where 49 vendors at 15 farmers’ markets sold 43 species. In Split, at six farmers’ markets only 29 vendors sold 18 species. A significant number of species (all liverworts, most acrocarpous mosses and some pleurocarpous), which are less attractive to harvesters, was collected non-intentionally, entangled in carpets of other, more frequent species. Among them, Rhodobryum ontariense and Loeskeobryum brevirostre are rare and insufficiently recorded in Croatia so far. The present study provided a first perspective on the use of bryophytes in traditional nativity scenes in Croatia and Southeastern Europe, contributing to scarce ethnobotanical documentation of the decorative use of bryophytes in Christmas festivities in Europe and globally.

Although Croatia is bryologically one of the best- known regions of former Yugoslavia, most of the data originates from the time of the Austro– Hungarian Monarchy, gathered during the 19th and early 20th century. Until recently, the state of knowledge of the bryophyte flora of Croatia was largely insufficient, mostly due to the lack of local bryologists. In the last eight years a great effort was done in order to collect and digitize all literature and herbarium archives containing bryophyte data from the territory of Croatia. This yielded a large dataset which was finally incorporated into the national Flora Croatia Database as a new Bryophyte Modul, interconnected with Herbarium Croaticum Virtual Herbarium Webpage. In total, 160 literature references in several languages dating from 1832 to recent times were digitized resulting in more than 25, 000 spatio-temporal records. After a decade of digitization focused solely on vascular plants, a comprehensive systematization, digitization and nomenclature updating of bryophyte collection in Herbarium Croaticum was performed. This revealed around 12, 000 specimens belonging to as many as 1177 taxa from 408 genera, originating from all continents and major archipelagos. A new updated catalogue of Croatian liverworts and hornworts, containing all relevant literature data and contemporary records, was published in 2021, while a checklist of mosses is in preparation. Intensified field surveys and inventories across the whole country revealed over 40 new national records in the last ten years. Special focus was put towards some endangered bryophyte habitats such as peatbogs and fens and macrophyte vegetation of rivers and lakes, the research into altitudinal patterns of bryophytes diversity, Mediterranean ephemeral bryophyte flora, as well as monitoring of invasive Campylopus introflexus (Hedw.) Brid. Consequently, data on national bryoflora have been constantly increasing, resulting in stepping beyond 800 taxa.

World herbaria with over 390 million specimens are being rapidly digitised, providing easy and flexible on-line access to herbarium data. The digitalization of the largest and the oldest Croatian herbarium collection Herbarium Croaticum (ZA) started in 2015 and is continuously done through the Flora Croatica Database and Herbarium Croaticum Virtual herbarium web interface. So far, this process was entirely focused on vascular plants, while little was known about its bryophyte collection other than from available literature. In the last few years all bryophyte specimens within the collection were systemized and digitised and their nomenclature was updated. The collection keeps around 12000 specimens belonging to as many as 1177 taxa from 408 genera. The same number is estimated for unidentified bryophyte specimens within ZA collection. The most numerous genera are Sphagnum, Rhynchostegium and Cinclidotus, while the most frequent taxa are Hypnum cupressiforme Hedw., Rhynchostegium riparioides (Hedw.) Cardot, Tortella tortuosa (Hedw.) Limpr. and Cratoneuron filicinum (Hedw.) Spruce. The digitalization process revealed two new bryophyte species for Croatia – Hylocomiastrum umbratum (Ehrh. ex Hedw.) M. Fleisch. and Timmiella barbuloides (Brid.) Mönk, hidden for decades within the collection. The oldest specimen dates back to 1828. The majority of the collection was accumulated in the first two decades of 20th century (25%) and in the recent 12 years (50%). The collection covers seven continents and Pacific islands, with predomination of European specimens (96.3%). Within Europe, Croatia is the most represented (64.0%) followed by Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, Poland, Hungary, Montenegro and Slovenia. The majority of Asian specimens originate form China, Indonesia and Japan, while USA and Brazil stand out among specimens from Americas. Among as many as 450 collectors, the most fruitful older ones were I. Horvat (8.7%), J. Podpera (5.8%) and Lj. Rossi (5.1%), while predomination of recent contributors V. Šegota (21.2%) and A. Alegro (13.1%) is evident.

The flora of the island of Zlarin was studied in 2019 and mapped using the Central European grid (MTB fields), the area studied consisting of nine MTB 1/64 fields. Altogether 576 vascular plant taxa (532 species and 44 subspecies) were identified, out of which there were 126 newly recorded, 450 previously recorded and confirmed, while 153 taxa from previous authors were not confirmed. In total, 730 taxa are currently recorded on the island of Zlarin. Among these, 580 taxa are indigenous, 147 cultivated and 23 listed as invasive in Croatia. Cultivated and adventitious plants were not included in the analysis of families and life forms. The largest number of taxa was attributed to the families Compositae (13.89%), Fabaceae (12.01%) and Poaceae (10.98%). Along with the domination of therophytes, the results of the phytogeographical analysis show a dominance of the Mediterranean floral element, indicating the character of the flora. Altogether 13 endemic, 44 endangered and 42 strictly protected indigenous species and subspecies are currently recorded on the island. The highest plant richness was observed in fields with higher habitat diversity and in fields with olive groves maintained by mowing. Moderate human impact and habitat diversity are crucial for the increase in floristic diversity on small islands and are much more important than the size of the island itself.

Hrastovička gora najsjeverniji je dio brežuljkastog područja Zrinske gore u Banovini (Sisačko-moslavačka županija). Dosad nije napravljen sustavni popis flore Hrastovičke gore. Tokom 2020. godine provedena su terenska istraživanja flore 31 plohe na 13 stanišnih tipova na tom području kako bi se usporedila stanišna raznolikost ovog kraja. Determinirano je 418 biljnih vrsta iz 85 porodica, među kojima 15 ugroženih, 14 strogo zaštićenih, 18 invazivnih, te jedna endemska vrsta. Na temelju florističke raznolikosti te ekoloških svojstava biljnih svojti (florni elementi, životni oblici, ekološki indikatorski faktori, životna strategija, podrijetlo) provedena je usporedba grupa ploha koje pripadaju istom ili sličnom stanišnom tipu. Analizom je uočen značaj šuma kao staništa za rijetke i ugrožene biljne svojte, te termofilnih travnjaka za orhideje. Hrastovička gora is the northernmost part of the hilly area of Zrinska gora in Banovina (Sisak-Moslavina County). No sistematic research on flora of this region was ever done. Fieldwork focusing on 31 sample sites across 13 different habitat types was carried out during 2020 in order to compare different habitat types. 418 plant taxa belonging to 85 plant families were found, of which 15 taxa are endangered, 14 are strictly protected, 18 are invasive and one is an endemic species. Based on the floristic diversity of these sample sites, accompanied by ecological data on found taxa (chorological types, life forms, ecological indicator values, life strategies, origin), a comparison of sample sites was made. Forests have proved to be an important habitat type for endangered and strictly protected plant taxa, as well as thermophilous grasslands, where many Orchidaceae species were found.

Cypripedium calceolus L. is endangered and strictly protected orchid species in Croatia. Most of its findings in Croatia refer to Mt. Velebit and Lika region: however, the majority of all recorded findings is very old, not confirmed in recent times. This paper presents a detail analysis of all published records of this species in Croatia. Additionally, one new locality of the species was found near Delnice in summer 2019 as the second finding of this species in Gorski Kotar, where it was recorded and collected as early as 126 years ago. This is an important finding that confirms the existence of this extremely rare species in Gorski Kotar and Croatia.

Forest-park Jelenovac is located on the southern slopes of the Medvednica Mt. The surface area of the park is 54.5 hectares, 48.9 of which is covered with forests dominated by hornbeam and sessile oak (the association Epimedio-Carpinetum betuli (Horvat 1938) Borhidi 1963). Numerous pathways are present mostly within the forest habitats, whereas on higher elevations near Vrhovac several grasslands and meadows occur. Since this area has not yet been botanically explored, a survey of vascular plant species was conducted during March and June 2019. Approximately 250 taxa were found within the park, with the largest families being Compositae and Rosaceae. According to current legal acts, three strictly protected species were found, including two orchids (Cephalanthera damasonium (Mill.) and Neottia nidus-avis (L.) Rich.). Seven species are included in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species ; three as Least Concern, three as Near Threatened and one as Vulnerable. In total 12 invasive and 33 cultivated taxa were recorded, as a result of rather considerable human influence. The results of this research represent a valuable addition to the urban flora of Zagreb and Croatian flora in general.

Count Franjo Vojković-Vojkffy Klokočki, Croatian florist, lived in the first half of the 19th century. During his lifetime he collected herbarium specimens which are today kept in Herbarium Croaticum (ZA) at the Division of Botany of the Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb. These herbarium specimens are one of the oldest specimens in Herbarium Croaticum. The herbarium sheets are in the original protective cases and are in good condition. A number of 183 specimens were systematized according to Linne in Genera Plantarum vol. I and II, while the rest of the material was not systematized. The renowned Croatian naturalist Dragutin Hirc brought Count Vojković's herbarium to the Department of Botany and Phisiology (now Division of Botany) in 1910. Hirc wrote an article about it for the Periodicum Biologorum in 1911, providing the list of species found in the herbarium. During February and March of 2019 Vojković's herbarium was digitalized. The list of the species found was compared to that of Hirc’s from 1911. The percentage of invasive and allochthone species was analysed, as well as the percentage of plants belonging to various plant families. In total, 355 specimens belong to 70 different families. Most common are Asteraceae (12.4%), Lamiaceae (11.6%) and Fabaceae (11.6%). Five taxa are today considered invasive in Croatia. Allochthonous flora of the herbarium counts 82 specimens, which raises the question whether they were sampled within Croatia or elsewhere.

Hrastovi predstavljaju važnu komponentu šumske vegetacije u Hrvatskoj. Različite vrste hrastova dolaze u različitim vegetacijskim zajednicama diljem zemlje. Osim ekološke važnosti, bitni su i u industriji kao drvni materijal. Ovaj rad donosi pregled najvažnijih fitocenoza Hrvatske koje uključuju hrastove kao bitnu komponentu. Nakon kratkog osvrta na hrastove kao rod slijedi pregled po klimazonalnim zajednicama. The oaks represent an important component of forest vegetation of Croatia. Different oak species form a variety of phytocoenosis all over the country. Except for their ecological value, they're industrially important as wood material. This paper brings an overview of most important oak phytocoenosis in Croatia. A short review of oak species growing in Croatia is followed by an overview of its plant communities through climatic zones.