The Kunfehértó moonwort forest Nature Conservation Area | nature conservation park / area

 forest, nature conservation park / area

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Territory of the protected area: 120 hectares.
Location: The protected area is situated to the south of Kiskunhalas, in the western fields of Kunfehértó.
Visitors: Only guided tours are available.
Management: Directorate of the Kiskunság National Park

This area is one of the countless secrets of nature. Here in the middle of Europe in this deteriorated former lily-of-the-valley oak forest lives the rattlesnake fern (Botrychium virginianum) and it is perceptibly having a good time, because it is continuously spreading in the territory of the forest (almost a thousand of them live in the forest). This pteridophyte closely related to palaeo-ferns is common on the American continent but rare in Eurasia, and it can only be found here in Hungary. Not even the largest specimen of this little greenish plant is taller than 15-20 centimetres and it does not very much look like ferns. Its leaves are laceratedly serrated, which is distantly suggestive of ferns, its long spore leaf grows in the center of the plant. The specialty of the plant is that it lives in a strong symbiosis with a fungus – probably related to the acacia, too. It is a mystery how the plant got there, though there is a probable answer to this, because during the afforestation of the Alföld American acacias got to the area – even if through a long way. What is still a mystery: why has not this plant spread outside the forest? Why does it – the otherwise easily spreading plant – only feel at home in this little forest?
The area used to be covered with steppe oak forest, characteristic of the landscape, which was eradicated in the Turkish era. Later – after a supposedly long unwooded period – it became wooded again with probably lily-of-the-valley oak forest which has quite deteriorated because of bad sylviculture. At present the area is covered with smaller patches of oaks, planted acacias and poplars at certain places which were also planted. The special value and captivating atmosphere of the forest are due to a few ancient oaks – sometimes several hundred years old – still living reminiscent of the former oak forest. Some valuable plants of the former oak association can still be found in the undergrowth for example a few representatives of the ground-elder, the Solomon's seal or the narrow buckler-fern and the dense-flowered orchid.

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