Extremely waterlogged brown-moss minerotrophic neutral fens in the boreal zone of Northern Europe and on deep old peats of the Central European mountains
Stygio-Caricion limosae Nordhagen 1943
Stygio-Caricion limosae Nordhagen 1943
sch11 | This alliance includes waterlogged, minerotrophic, non-calcareous brown-moss fens containing boreal semi-aquatic mosses (Calliergon trifarium, Scorpidium scorpioides) and sedges such as Carex chordorrhiza, C. limosa and Carex lasiocarpa. According to Nordhagen (1943), it comprises neither vegetation of hollows of ombrotrophic bogs nor of peat moss-dominated mires and therefore it cannot be synonymised either with the Scheuchzerion palustris Nordhagen ex Tx. 1937 nor with the Rhynchosporion albae Koch 1926 that is dominated by peat mosses and contains grassland and other nutrient-demanding species, and does not contain either Carex limosa or C. chordorrhiza. Unlike the Caricion davallianae, the Stygio-Caricion limosae does not contain calcicolous vascular elements of the Caricion davallianae. On the other hand, if one accepts a broad concept of the Caricion lasiocarpae Vanden Berghen in Lebrun et al. 1949, and simultaneously accepts that the Rhynchosporion albae should not include the ombrotrophic bog hollows, the name Stygio-Caricion limosae must be used instead of the Caricion lasiocarpae because of priority reasons. The Stygio-Caricion limosae is still used in recent Scandinavian studies (e.g. Moen et al. 2012). (M. Hájek).