Synonymy

Callunetum ar enosum western heaths Tansley 1911 p.p.; Somerset upland heath Watson 1932 p.p.; Callunetum south-western heaths Tansley 1939 p.p.; Agrostis setacea ‘Short Heath’ Coombe & Frost 1956«, Marrs & Proctor 1978; Agrostidetum setaceae cornubiense Coombe & Frost 1956a, Ivimey-Cook 1959, Ivimey-Cook et al. 1975; Erica vagans-Erica tetralix ‘Wet Heath’ Coombe & Frost 1956a; Agrosto setaceae-Ulicetum gallii Bridgewater 1970; Heath, Grassland with Gorse & Grass-heath Ward et al. 1972a, all p.p.; Calluna-Ulex gallii heaths Gimingham 1972p.p.; Intermediate Tall/Short Heath Marrs & Proctor 1978; Species-poor Erica cinerea Heath NCC Devon Heathlands Report 1980; Species-poor Dry Agrostis setacea Heath NCC Devon Heathlands Report 1980; Ulex europaeus-Molinia caerulea limestone heath NCC South Gower Coast Report 1981 p.p.; Agrostis curtisii heath Hopkins 1983.

Constant species

Agrostis curtisii, Calluna vulgaris, Erica cinerea, E. tetralix, Molinia caerulea, Potentilla erecta, Ulex gallii.

Rare species

Agrostis curtisii, Carex montana, Erica ciliaris, E. vagans.

Physiognomy

In its general floristics, the Ulex gallii-Agrostis curtisii heath is very similar to the Ulex minor-Agrostis heath, the major difference being the replacement of the one gorse by the other. Without close inspection of the petals and calyx, the different lengths of which are diagnostic, separation of these two genetically variable and vegetatively plastic species can be difficult (Proctor 1965, Wigginton & Graham 1981), but they show an almost perfect vicarism in their range: they do not occur together here, the western limit of U. minor in east Dorset serving as a boundary between the two communities. Apart from this, however, the heaths share five constants, Calluna vulgaris, Erica cinerea, E. tetralix, Molinia caerulea and Agrostis curtisii and, together with U. gallii, these generally account for the bulk of the vascular cover. But their proportions and structural arrangements are very variable so the gross appearance of the vegetation can differ quite markedly from stand to stand, something reflected in the use of epithets such as ‘short heath’ (Coombe & Frost 1956a) and ‘grass heath’ (Ward et al. 1972a). Quite often, sub-shrubs and grasses comprise an intimately mixed canopy of continuous cover, compact and springy and quite low, sometimes little more than 1 dm high; in other cases, the elements may be of similar short stature but disposed in a more obvious mosaic with clumps of sub-shrubs separated by small stretches of sward in which grasses predominate.