Atlantic tufted hairgrass meadows

Description (English)

Coarse grasslands of Atlantic and sub-Atlantic Western, Northern and, locally, western Central Europe and northern Eastern Europe, overwhelmingly dominated by Deschampsia cespitosa, characteristic of permanently moist, gleyed and periodically inundated near-neutral soils, with a highly variable, usually species-poor, complement of species that includes the grasses Holcus lanatus, Festuca rubra, Agrostis stolonifera, Agrostis capillaris, Poa trivialis, Poa pratensis, Dactylis glomerata, Lolium perenne, Alopecurus pratensis, sometimes forming closely grazed swards around the tussocks of the less palatable Deschampsia, as well as, among others, Juncus affinis, Juncus inflexus, Filipendula ulmaria, Cardamine pratensis, Angelica sylvestris, Achillea ptarmica, Ranunculus acris, Ranunculus repens, Cirsium arvense, Rumex acetosa, Cerastium fontanum, Plantago lanceolata, Lathyrus pratensis, Centaurea nigra, Dactylorhiza fuchsii. They are particularly well characterized in the English lowlands and in Fennoscandia, but occur locally farther east and south, notably in the Netherlands, in Belgium, in the Campine, the loess region and the peri-Hercynian calcareous regions, in northern Germany, in the Bohemian basin, in Austria, particularly under the influence of grazing. Grassland communities dominated by Deschampsia cespitosa of regions of more continental climates of eastern and southeastern Europe belong to the inundation communities of units E3.43 and E3.463.

Source: EUNIS habitat classification