SM25: Suaeda vera drift-line community: Elymo pycnanthi-Suaedetum verae (Arènes 1933) Géhu 1975

Summary

Synonymy

Suaedetum fruticosae Tansley 1939 p.p.; Agropyro-Suaedetum fruticosae Adam 1976; Halimiono-Suaedetum fruticosae Adam 1976.

Constant species

Halimione portulacoides, Suaeda vera.

Rare species

Arthrocnemum perenne, Suaeda vera.

Physiognomy

The Elymo pycnanthi-Suaedetum verae is of variable appearance. The two association constants are sometimes co-dominant as a more or less closed shrubby cover; in other cases they occur as scattered bushes in a grassy ground. The S. vera shoots provide a niche for a varied flora of epiphytic lichens (Ellis 1960).

Sub-communities

Elymus pycnanthus sub-community: Elymo pycnanthi-Suaedetum verae typicum Géhu & Delzenne 1975; Agropyro-Suaedetum fruticosae Adam 1976. Here the cover of H. portulacoides is low and the vegetation is dominated by complementary proportions of S. vera bushes and stiff clumps of Elymus pycnanthus with usually a little Festuca rubra. The upper edge of stands may be marked in spring by a narrow band of winter annuals such as Cochlearia danica, Myosotis ramosissima, Sagina maritima and Valerianella locusta germinating on drift debris.

Halimione portulacoides sub-community: Elymo pycnanthi-Suaedetum verae halimionetosum Géhu & Delzenne 1975; Halimiono-Suaedetum fruticosae Adam 1976. S. vera and H. portulacoides are co-dominant as a shrubby canopy of variable height over a ground of scattered Puccinellia maritima and Limonium cf. vulgare, often with a little Aster tripolium, annual Salicornia spp., Spergularia media and Suaeda maritima. The sub-community provides an occasional high-level context for Bostrychia scorpioides and Pelvetia canaliculata.