Synonymy

Scirpetum cespitosi Watson 1932, Fraser 1933, Tansley 1939 p.p.; Trichophoreto-Eriophoretum typicum McVean & Ratcliffe 1962, Birks 1973, Evans et al. 1977; Juncus squarrosus bog McVean & Ratcliffe 1962 p.p.; Pleur ozia purpurea-Erica tetralix Association Br.-Bl. & Tx. 1952 sensu Moore 1968 p.p.; Eriophorum vaginatum bog, low-level facies Edgell 1969; Blanket bog Ward et al. 1972; Mire nodum 12 Daniels 1978; Calluno-Molinietum’. Hill & Evans 1978 p.p.; Vaccinio-Eriophoretum Hill & Evans 1978 p.p.; Erico-Sphagnetum papillosi Moore (1964) 1968 emend. Birse 1980 p.p.; Erica tetralix-Sphagnum papillosum mire Ratcliffe & Hattey 1982 p.p.; Pleurozio-Ericetum tetralicis Dierssen 1982 p.p.; Virgin peatland l.ii & l.iii Hulme & Blyth 1984; Disturbed peatland 3.iv Hulme & Blyth 1984.

Constant species

Calluna vulgaris, Erica tetralix, Eriophorum angustifolium, E. vaginatum, Molinia caerulea, Narthecium ossifragum, Potentilla erecta, Scirpus cespitosus, Sphagnum capillifolium, S. papillosum.

Rare species

Campylopus atrovirens var. falcatus, C. setifolius, C. shawii, Sphagnum imbricatum, S. strie turn.

Physiognomy

The Scirpus cespitosus-Eriophorum vaginatum mire is a blanket bog community dominated by mixtures of monocotyledons, ericoid sub-shrubs and Sphagna, the two former groups of plants usually giving the vegetation its distinctive character when it is seen from a distance, but the last often occupying more of the ground, at least in wetter stands. The community can occur as extensive, fairly uniform tracts in which there is a fine-grained alternation of dominance among the species in these different elements from place to place; or, on mires with strong surface undulations, it can comprise the hummock component, with the plants showing a more obvious zonation in relation to the height of the water-table and the vegetation giving way in the hollows to Rhynchosporion pools.

Among the bulkier vascular species, the most common are Scirpus cespitosus, Eriophorum vaginatum, Molinia caerulea, Calluna vulgaris and Erica tetralix, mixtures of which form an uneven-topped tier, 2-3 dm tall and often rather open. The high frequency of E. vaginatum is one of the features which helps distinguish this vegetation from the most closely-related kind of wet heath, the Scirpus-Erica community, with which it is often associated; though, in fact, E. vaginatum is rarely very abundant here and never a consistent co-dominant, as it is in most types of Calluna-Eriophorum mire.