Rediscovery and a new record of the elusive and enigmatic Hammarbya paludosa (L.) Kuntze (Orchidaceae) in Romania

: The overall range pattern of Hammarbya paludosa in Romania is problematic and poorly understood. Here we have compiled an updated distribution for the species in Romania, adding a new locality in the South-Eastern Carpathians, in a transitional bog of the Gutâi Mts (Eastern Carpathians). The species had previously been reported from Romania but we found only a single item of evidence of the plant in a public herbarium (a specimen collected more than a half century ago near Avrig, with no earlier data recorded from that location, and was lodged incorrectly under Liparis loeselii ), although it is listed in most important checklists of the Romanian flora as certainly present in Romania. The population discovered, consisting of about 30 individuals of H. paludosa , was spread over an an area of ca. 200 m 2 and grew in an Oxycocco-Sphagnetea community. In Romania the species is highly threatened due to its extreme rarity and the relatively intensive grazing in the area where it occurs.