The junipers in Barcs

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Area: 5520 hectares. 1227 hectares are highly protected. It can be visited freely, but a permit is necessary to see the highly protected areas.

The about seventy square km area in the east of Barcs is known as the 'ancient junipers', although the juniper (Juniperus communis) occupied the sandy area – divided by sand-hills – after the common oaks had been cleared and the area was used for grazing.
The large area of contiguous junipers on open and close puszta steppe –mixed with birches (Betula pendula) – is a truly captivating sight. The green-winged orchid, Pasque flower, Hungarian iris (Iris variegata) bloom in the area, but perhaps the most precious is the hog's fennel (Peucedanum). The world of insects of the warm and dry parts is just as exciting. Almost seven hundred butterfly species have been found in the area and the snouted grasshopper and the praying mantid live here, too providing an exotic sight. Tall sedge marsh meadows, broom-willows, alder marshes, wet hayfields stretch in the wet parts, around the Rigóc brook, and the Széles lake, while common oaks stretch in the higher areas. The highly protected royal fern lives only here in Hungary. There is Hampshire purslane (Ludwigia palustris) in the marsh meadows, the protected spike-rush and large stocks of peat / bog-moss (Sphagnum) species can be found here.

www.foek.hu/zsibongo/termve/np/angnp/ddnp.htm