Synonymy

Heather Moor Smith & Rankin 1903, Smith & Moss 1903 p.p.; Callunetum Lewis & Moss 1911; Calluno-Vaccinietum Lewis & Moss 1911; Calluna heath Ratcliffe 1959 p.p.; Callunetum vulgaris McVean & Ratcliffe 1962 p.p.; Calluna-heath moss sociation Edged 1969; Calluna-Vaccinium heath Gimingham 1972 p.p.; Callunetum vulgaris typicum Evans et al. 1977; Calluna vulgaris-Vaccinium vitis-idaea nodum Huntley & Birks 1979; Calluna vulgaris-Anemone nemorosa nodum Huntley & Birks 1979; Calluna vulgaris-Deschampsia flexuosa nodum Huntley 1979; Vaccinio-Ericetum cinereae Birse 1980 p.p.; Calluna vulgaris-Vaccinium myrtillus nodum Hughes & Huntley 1986; Calluna vulgaris-Hypnum cupressiforme nodum Hughes & Huntley 1986.

Constant species

Calluna vulgaris, Deschampsiaflexuosa, Vaccinium myrtillus, Dicranum scoparium, Hypnum jutlandicum, Pleurozium schreberi.

Rare species

Diphasium x issleri.

Physiognomy

The Calluna vulgaris-Vaccinium myrtillus heath is generally dominated by Calluna vulgaris, often overwhelmingly so: indeed, this community includes the bulk of the Calluneta so widely described from the less oceanic parts of the sub-montane zone, through which the regular burning of grouse-moor and hill-grazings that encourages a predominance of species-poor building-phase heather is still commonly practised. But older stands, with a more open cover of degenerate Calluna, can often be found and there is structural variety, too, in response to differences in grazing intensity and local climate, both of which can affect the height and extent of the subshrub canopy. More distinctly, wherever there is some opportunity for a contribution to the cover from other ericoids, capitalising upon the more open ground in the early or late stages of the heather growth cycle, or persisting in usually smaller amounts among the maturing bushes, the potential diversity of this element of the vegetation is quite high.

As in the Calluna-Erica heath, Erica cinerea can figure among these associates, recovering particularly well from burning on drier slopes and able to persist patchily beneath quite dense heather (Gimingham 1949, 1972, Bannister 1965). But it is much more uneven in its occurrence in this community, rarely of high cover and, in the colder and wetter climatic conditions characteristic of much of the range of this kind of heath, it fares rather badly. Vaccinium myrtillus, by contrast, which is only occasional within the Calluna-Erica heath, is a constant here and, though generally subordinate to the heather, it can show temporary abundance after fires and being also a shade-tolerant plant, it is able to survive in a sparse lower tier beneath the closing Calluna canopy.