Relict supra- to cryomediterranean mat-grass swards of the Iberian Peninsula and North African Atlas
Udo-Nardetalia Quézel 1953
Udo-Nardetalia Quézel 1953
tri12 | The inclusion of the oro-cryomediterranean zonal mat-grass communities occurring in the Sierra Nevada (e.g. Quézel 1953) and North African Atlas mountains as a suborder (Campanulo herminii-Nardenalia Rivas-Mart. et al. 1986) within the Nardetalia strictae Preising 1950 (described to accommodate secondary and intensively grazed mat-grasslands of medium and low altitudes of Western and Central Europe) lacks convincing reasoning. The supra- to cryomediterranean Betic-African, endemic-rich mat grasslands are known as the Udo-Nardetalia (Quézel 1953, 1964; Krahulec 1985) and as such are of relict character and rich in endemics. They can also be considered as a biogeographic analogon of the Trifolietalia parnassi (Trifolio anatolicae-Polygonetea arenastri) known from the Hellenic mainland and from Anatolia. The classification of this order within the Festucetea indigestae (and redefinition of the latter as the geographic analogue of the Juncetea trifidi) is worth investigation. (L. Mucina) Contrary to the opinion of de Foucault (2012), the name Udo-Nardetalia is not illegitimate according to ICPN art. 34. Indeed, 'udo' is an ecological prefix (IPCN art. 12) based on the Latin word 'udus', which means 'saturated with water, humid, wet'. The name Udo-Nardetalia was coined for wet meadows dominated by Nardus stricta in the 'pozzines complex' − a perfectly fitting term, coined by de Litardière for Corsica according to Quézel (1953: 49). (J.-P. Theurillat).