Synonymy

Carex rostrata-Sphagnum warnstorfianum nodum McVean & Ratcliffe 1962, Eddy et al. 1969; Violo-Epilobietum sphagnetosum recurvae Jones 1973 p.p.; Menyantho-Sphagnetum teretis Dierssen 1982. Constant species

Carex nigra, C. rostrata, Epilobium palustre, Festuca ovina, Potentilla erecta, Selaginella selaginoides, Viola palustris, Aulacomnium palustre, Calliergon cuspidatum, Hylocomium splendens, Rhizomnium pseudopunctatum, Sphagnum teres, S. warnstorfii.

Rare species

Homalothecium nitens, Sphagnum subsecundum.

Physiognomy

The Carex rostrata-Sphagnum warnstorfii mire has a dominant cover of sedges over an extensive carpet of base-tolerant Sphagna and a fairly numerous and diverse assemblage of herbs. As in the lowland counterpart of this community, the Carex-Sphagnum squarrosum mire, Carex rostrata and C. nigra are the commonest sedges, the former generally the more abundant and often of high cover, the latter usually subordinate though locally dominant. Other poor-fen sedges, C. panicea, C. echinata and C. demissa, occur frequently and sometimes in abundance, and C. pulicaris is occasional, but the more calciolous C. dioica is rare and C. curta, an occasional associate of C. rostrata in oligotrophic mires, likewise scarce. There is frequently a little Eriophorum angustifolium among the sedge cover, much less often small amounts of one of the bulkier Junci, Juncus articulatus or, more rarely, J. effusus or J. acutiflorus.

The Sphagnum carpet is typically extensive and quite distinctive in the prominence, along with S. recurvum, of the base-tolerant S. teres and S. warnstorfii, the latter an especially good preferential for this kind of montane mire. S’, subsecundum sensu stricto occurs more occasionally but is also very characteristic and the community provides one of the loci in Britain for S. contortum, though it is not so common here as in the Carex-Calliergon mire. S. squarrosum occurs occasionally but is not so consistent as in the Car ex-Sphagnum squarrosum mire. Other low-frequency species include S. palustre, S. girgensohnii, S. capillifolium, S. subnitens and S. papillosum, all generally of low cover. S. cuspidatum and S. auriculatum are typically absent.

Other bryophytes are numerous with Aulacomnium palustre and Rhizomnium pseudopunctatum attaining higher frequency here than in any other of our montane mires. Also distinctive are Calliergon cuspidatum, C. stramineum and, less frequently, the montane C. sarmentosum, though not C. trifarium which is more typical of the Caricetum saxatilis.