DACTYLORHIZA SAMBUCINA ( L . ) SOÓ ( ORCHIDACEAE ) – A NEW SITE OUTSIDE THE CONTINUOUS RANGE IN POLAND

The Elder-flowered Orchid Dactylorhiza sambucina represents a sub-element of Central European and AlpineNorth European vegetation type (Hare and Hare, 2001). The northern border of geographical area of this species is in Poland. It was recorded in 160 localities in the country, with 40 confirmed ones in the last 10 years. The main centers of occurrence of this species are the Sudety and Karpaty mountains. The northernmost locality of the Elder-flowered Orchid was in the Pogórze Kaczawskie. A new site within the Półboru Reserve is now the northernmost site of this species in Poland.


INTRODUCTION
Dactylorhiza sambucina (L.) Soó, the Elder-flowered Orchid (Orchis sambucina syn.L., Dactylorhiza latifolia (L.) Soó) belongs to the genus Dactylorhiza comprising 10 to 30 species.The difference in their number is the result of unclear taxonomic status of the members of this genus (Szlachetko, 2010).
In Poland, this is a strictly protected species (Piekoś-Mirkowa and Mirek, 2006), and in the Polish Red Book of Plants it has the status of VU -vulnerable to extinction (Kaźmierczakowa and Zarzycki, 2001).On the Red List of vascular plants in Poland, it is also a vulnerable species -V (Zarzycki and Szeląg, 1992).

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Orchid shoots were found in May 2006 (Fig. 1) at the Półboru Reserve during field studies of forest communities (Dąbrowska, 2007).This position was confirmed in 2010 and 2011; only a single shoot was recorded in the area.The name of Dactylorhiza sambucina species was approved according to Delforge (2006).The Półboru Reserve is located in the municipality of Sieradz, the Sieradz district in the region of Łódź (Dąbrowska, 2007).According to Polish physical-geographical division (Kondracki, 1998), the reserve is located within the mesoregion of Wysoczyzna Łaska, the macroregion of Nizina Południowowielkopolska, subprovince of Niziny Środkowopolskie, province of Niż Środkoweuropejski.According to the Polish geobotanical division of Szafer (1988), the area belongs to the Widawski district, Północne Wysoczyzny Brzeżne region, Pas Wyżyn Środkowych suborder, Bałtyk order.The reserve was established in 1983 to protect an old forest stand of natural oak and pine, along with the positions of rare plant species.On the basis of geobotanical research in the reserve, there are two separate forest units: Potentillo albae-Quercetum and tilio-carpinetum (Jakubowska-Gabara, 1995).

DISCUSSION
Dactylorhiza sambucina represents a sub-element of Central European and Alpine-North European vegetation type (Hare and Hare, 2001).It occurs mainly in the temperate zone, sub-Mediterranean and in mountains in the Mediterranean area (Baumann et al., 2010;Buttler, 2000;Jersáková et al., 2006).The southern boundary of its range reaches southern Spain, northern Sicily and southern Peloponnese.The eastern border runs through Turkey, Ukraine, Small Caucasus.The northern boundary includes southern Norway and central Sweden (Fig. 2).In Poland, it occurs within the ranges of montane plants.The northern boundary of the continuous Central European acreage runs in the southern part of the country (Bernacki and Mróz, 2001).The acreage was recorded on Polish territory at about 160 sites, which in recent years has been confirmed only in 40 of them (Hare and Hare, 2001).Currently, the main centers of their occurrence in Poland are in Sudety (up to 1000 m asl), Pogórze Bolkowsko-Wałbrzyskie, Rudawy Janowickie (Mróz, 1994), Góry Bardzkie i Góry Złote (Mróz, 1994) and Pieniny (Zarzycki, 1981), (up to 1115 m).Currently, no positions have been confirmed from Nizina Śląsko-Łużycka and Nizina Śląska (Schube, 1903), Pogórze Cieszyńskie (Bernacki. 1999), Tatry, Wyżyna Krakowsko-Częstochowska and Góry Świętokrzyskie (Bernacki and Mróz, (2001).So far, the northernmost position of this species was located in Pogórze Kaczawskie (Pogórze Zachodniosudeckie).Other positions, further to the north, are the historic positions (Kaźmierczakowa and Zarzycki, 2001) (Fig. 3).The new site of Dactylorhiza sambucina was found in the reserve in the hornbeam of the typical undergrowth of Półboru-tilio-carpinetum typicum in section 275 (Fig. 4), and is outside the unique range of this species.Now it is the northernmost position in Poland.In addition, this finding is located in the lowland part of the country.
The Elder-flowered Orchid is a species associated mainly with montane areas and highlands.In Poland, all previously recorded positions located in the lowlands are now considered historical.The withdrawal of the species from montane and upland areas can be also seen (Bernacki and Mróz, 2001).This can be connected to the disappearance of the habitats that this species prefers.These are habitats that require extensive mowing and grazing (Bernacki and Mróz, 2001).Various initiatives are being taken in Poland to protect this species, such as the procedure applied in the Pieniński Park Narodowy, where the meadows are mowed in order to maintain the 12 positions of the Elder-flowered Orchid (Wróbel, 2006).The new position is now located only in the lowlands.It is highly endangered due to the presence of only a single shoot of the species, as well as the increased shading of its habitat due to the expansion of hornbeam (Jakubowska-Gabara, 1995).