Southern Alpine oatgrass-blue moorgrass swards

Description (English)

Xero-thermophile, open, stepped or garland, species-rich grasslands of the alpine and subalpine levels of the southern Alps, and particularly of the southwestern Alps, similar to those of the previous unit (R4431), but in which Carex sempervirens is less prominent, while various oats, Helictotrichon sedenense (Avena sedenensis) (Helictotrichon montanum, Avena montana), Helictotrichon sempervirens, Helictotrichon parlatorei, Helictotrichon setaceum, or Festuca dimorpha become important components together with Sesleria albicans, and oro-Mediterranean species such as Globularia nana, Hedysarum hedysaroides, Lilium pomponium, Centaurea triumfetti, Ononis cristata (Ononis cenisia), Ononis striata, Iberis sempervirens, Aethionema ovalifolium, Sempervivum calcareum, Arenaria cinerea, Alsine brunati, Galeopsis reuteri, Leuzea rhapontica ssp. bicknellii (Leuzea rhapontica, Rhaponticum scariosum) and the spiny Astragalus sempervirens appear; several of these species are local endemics of very restricted distribution.

Source: EUNIS habitat classification