Kéleshalom Sand Dunes

Area: 168 ha

Legal declaration by Decree No. 12/1975. OTvH

Biogeographic region: Sand Ridge

This sand dune range has gentle slopes but the elevation difference between dune tops and slacks frequently reaches up to 10 m. Several grassland types occur in the reserve from sparse pioneer swards to closed sand steppes, but the most common vegetation type is the shrubby steppe. The most common shrub is Common Hawthorn but Blackthorn, Juniper, Wild Rose and in the sheltered depressions, especially in the shade of Silver Poplar groves, Buckthorn and Wild Privet also occur. Dune slacks are home to the dwarf shrub Salix rosmarinifolia and some special fungi and orchids. Sand steppes, just like in other sand regions of the Danube-Tisza Interfluve, provide habitat for several endemic and Pontic-Pannonian plant species, such as Tragopogon floccosus, Small Globe Thistle, Siberian Spurge, Onosma arenaria, Astragalus varius, Astragalus onobrychis and some other species that bloom in the autumn, such as Colchicum arenarium, Dianthus serotinus and Polygonum arenarium.