SD9: Ammophila arenaria-Arrhenatherum elatius dune grassland

Summary

Synonymy

Dune grassland Gimingham 1964a.

Constant species

Achillea millefolium, Ammophila arenaria, Arrhenatherum elatius, Festuca rubra, Poa pratensis.

Rare species

Acaena novae-zelandiae, Astragalus danicus.

Physiognomy

The Ammophila arenaria-Arrhenatherum elatius grassland includes rank, tussocky swards in which both Festuca rubra and Ammophila remain very common, the former especially being often abundant, indeed the most frequent dominant overall, the latter rather more patchily represented, but plentiful and vigorous in some stands. Compared with other dune grasslands, however, a noticeable difference here is the common occurrence of Arrhenatherum elatius, often growing in some abundance and quite frequently co-dominant. Other grasses figure, too, though their contribution to the cover is generally small. Poa pratensis agg. (probably P. subcaerulea in many cases) is constant in small amounts, for example, and Dactylis glomerata is often found, though only exceptionally with any abundance. More occasionally, there can be some Holcus lanatus, Trisetum flavescens, Elymus pycnanthus, E. farctus and E. repens, but smaller species like Koeleria macrantha, Agrostis capillaris and Anthoxanthum odoratum tend to be very scarce. Carex arenaria is only moderately common, and Luzula campestris rather infrequent.

Quite a variety of dicotyledonous herbs occur in the community, the commonest able to grow up tall through the grasses or form a loose, bushy understorey in more open parts of the sward.