MC11: Festuca rubra-Daucus carota ssp. gummifer maritime grassland

Summary

Synonymy

Armerieto maritimae-Daucetum gummiferi Géhu 1964 p.p.

Constant species

Festuca rubra, Dactylis glomerata, Daucus carota ssp. gummifer.

Rare species

Brassica oleracea, Scilla verna, Silene nutans.

Physiognomy

The Festuca-Daucus maritime grassland has a fairly short, rather tussocky sward generally dominated by grasses of which F. rubra is usually the most abundant. Dactylis glomerata is constant and, though rarely abundant, may be in the form variously described as var. abbreviata, var. maritima or ssp. hispanica, which Tutin (1980a) considered to be one of the tetraploid populations within the species. Daucus carota ssp. gummifer is also constant in generally small amounts and, when flowering, it gives the vegetation a distinctive stamp. The maritime element in the community is small and the only other frequent species throughout are Plantago lanceolata and Lotus corniculatus. Bryophytes are rare.

Sub-communities

Bromus hordeaceus ssp. ferronii sub-community: Armerieto-Daucetum gummiferi typicum Géhu 1964 p.p. B. hordeaceus ssp. ferronii and Armeria maritima are additional constants here and Plantago coronopus, P. lanceolata and Lotus corniculatus occur frequently. Although F. rubra is often abundant, there is usually no single dominant and the sward is sufficiently open to permit repeated colonisation by B. hordeaceus ssp. ferronii and other therophytes such as Desmazeria marina, Senecio vulgaris and Vicia sativa.

Ononis repens sub-community. O. repens is an additional constant in this sub-community and occasionally it is co-dominant with F. rubra.