Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- Preface and Acknowledgements
- Preamble
- Salt-marsh communities
- COMMUNITY DESCRIPTIONS
- Shingle, strandline and sand-dune communities
- COMMUNITY DESCRIPTIONS
- Maritime cliff communities
- COMMUNITY DESCRIPTIONS
- MC1: Crithmum maritimum-Spergularia rupicola maritime rock-crevice community: Crithmo-Spergularietum rupicolae Géhu 1964
- MC2: Armeria maritima-Ligusticum scoticum maritime rock-crevice community
- MC3: Rhodiola rosea-Armeria maritima maritime cliff-ledge community
- MC4: Brassica oleracea maritime cliff-ledge community
- MC5: Armeria maritima-Cerastium diffusum ssp. diffusum maritime therophyte community
- MC6: Atriplex prostrata-Beta vulgaris ssp. maritima sea-bird cliff community: Atriplici-Betetum maritimae J.-M. & J. Géhu 1969
- MC7: Stellaria media-Rumex acetosa sea-bird cliff community
- MC8: Festuca rubra-Armeria maritima maritime grassland
- MC9: Festuca rubra-Holcus lanatus maritime grassland
- MC10: Festuca rubra-Plantago spp. maritime grassland
- MC11: Festuca rubra-Daucus carota ssp. gummifer maritime grassland
- MC12: Festuca rubra-Hyacinthoides non-scripta maritime bluebell community
- Vegetation of open habitats
- COMMUNITY DESCRIPTIONS
- INDEX OF SYNONYMS TO MARITIME COMMUNITIES AND VEGETATION OF OPEN HABITATS
- INDEX OF SPECIES IN MARITIME COMMUNITIES AND VEGETATION OF OPEN HABITATS
- BIBLIOGRAPHY
- PHYTOSOCIOLOGICAL CONSPECTUS OF BRITISH PLANT COMMUNITIES
MC3: Rhodiola rosea-Armeria maritima maritime cliff-ledge community
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 September 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- Preface and Acknowledgements
- Preamble
- Salt-marsh communities
- COMMUNITY DESCRIPTIONS
- Shingle, strandline and sand-dune communities
- COMMUNITY DESCRIPTIONS
- Maritime cliff communities
- COMMUNITY DESCRIPTIONS
- MC1: Crithmum maritimum-Spergularia rupicola maritime rock-crevice community: Crithmo-Spergularietum rupicolae Géhu 1964
- MC2: Armeria maritima-Ligusticum scoticum maritime rock-crevice community
- MC3: Rhodiola rosea-Armeria maritima maritime cliff-ledge community
- MC4: Brassica oleracea maritime cliff-ledge community
- MC5: Armeria maritima-Cerastium diffusum ssp. diffusum maritime therophyte community
- MC6: Atriplex prostrata-Beta vulgaris ssp. maritima sea-bird cliff community: Atriplici-Betetum maritimae J.-M. & J. Géhu 1969
- MC7: Stellaria media-Rumex acetosa sea-bird cliff community
- MC8: Festuca rubra-Armeria maritima maritime grassland
- MC9: Festuca rubra-Holcus lanatus maritime grassland
- MC10: Festuca rubra-Plantago spp. maritime grassland
- MC11: Festuca rubra-Daucus carota ssp. gummifer maritime grassland
- MC12: Festuca rubra-Hyacinthoides non-scripta maritime bluebell community
- Vegetation of open habitats
- COMMUNITY DESCRIPTIONS
- INDEX OF SYNONYMS TO MARITIME COMMUNITIES AND VEGETATION OF OPEN HABITATS
- INDEX OF SPECIES IN MARITIME COMMUNITIES AND VEGETATION OF OPEN HABITATS
- BIBLIOGRAPHY
- PHYTOSOCIOLOGICAL CONSPECTUS OF BRITISH PLANT COMMUNITIES
Summary
Synonymy
Rhodioletum roseae Nordhagen 1922 p.p.
Constant species
Festuca rubra, Armeria maritima, Rhodiola rosea, Rumex acetosa.
Physiognomy
The luxuriant herbaceous vegetation of this community has no single dominant. Usually, robust plants of Rhodiola rosea and Rumex acetosa and large cushions of Armeria maritima grow from a matrix of Festuca rubra in irregular and often fragmentary stands on cliff ledges. Plantago maritima, P. lanceolata and Holcus lanatus are frequent, the last sometimes occurring in abundance. Tall herbs such as Angelica sylvestris and Silene dioica may be prominent. No bryophytes were recorded.
Habitat
The Rhodiola-Armeria community occurs on ledges, mostly north-facing, above the most maritime zone on sea-cliffs. It is found on a variety of rock types where suitable ledges are developed: particularly fine stands may occur on prominently-bedded rocks such as the Old Red Sandstone of Caithness. The soils are irrigated rankers. Stands are quite inaccessible to grazing animals.
Zonation and succession
Stands of the community are generally discrete but may form part of a fragmented zonation up cliffs from the Armeria-Ligusticum maritime rock-crevice community to a more intact Festuca-Armeria maritime grassland or maritime heath above. On very tall cliffs, there may be a transition to less maritime ledge vegetation such as that described by Birks (1973) from Skye as the Luzula sylvatica-Silene dioica Association.
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- Information
- British Plant Communities , pp. 270 - 271Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2000