Boreal black sedge-brown moss fens

Description (English)

Carex nigra-dominated fen communities of the subalpine to lower alpine zones of the boreoalpine and arctoalpine mountains of Fennoscandia occupying low-lying areas affected by running water (pH 5.5-6.0), among low (0.20 m) willow brush of, notably, Salix hastata, Salix lanata, Salix lapponum, Salix phylicifolia, comprising poor fen margin vegetation with, in some parts, an admixture of medium rich fen elements, and with a ground layer mainly of brown mosses. The sedge-rich species cortège includes Carex bigelowii, Carex canescens, Carex chordorrhiza, Carex dioica, Carex flava, Carex limosa, Carex magellanica, Carex panicea, Carex rostrata, Carex rotundata, Eriophorum angustifolium, Scirpus cespitosus ssp. cespitosus (Trichophorum cespitosum), Phleum alpinum, Poa pratensis s.l., Caltha palustris, Cardamine pratensis, Pedicularis palustris, Pinguicula vulgaris, Polygonum viviparum, Potentilla erecta, Potentilla palustris, Viola palustris, Salaginella salaginoides, Thalictrum alpinum, and bryophytes Aulacomnium palustre, Calliergon sarmentosum, Calliergon stramineum, Cinclidium stygium, Drepanocladus exannulatus, Paludella squarrosa, Philonotis fontana, Sphagnum warnstorfii.

Source: EUNIS habitat classification