34.35 - Pale fescue grasslands

Classification des habitats du Paléarctique (2001)

Description

Subcontinental xeric, thermophile grasslands of middle European collinar rock ledges, mostly dominated by the strong tufts of the glaucous Festuca pallens and Festuca pannonica and of the green Sesleria albicans, and with Dianthus gratianopolitanus, Melica ciliata, Aster alpinus, Artemisia campestris ssp. lednicensis, Hieracium spp., Biscutella laevigata ssp. varia, Teucrium botrys, Allium strictum, locally distributed in the Rhenish Schist Massif, the Pf„lzerwald, the Rhine-Nahe-Mainz valleys, the Rh”n, the Harz and its periphery, the southern Saxony hills, the Black Forest foothills, the French, Swabian and Franconian Juras, the Cracow-Czestochowa Jura, the western Pieniny, the Klippe Range of Nowy Targ and Spisz, the Mur Valley of Styria and, with possibly the greatest frequency and diversity, in the hills of the Bohemian hasin, in the Bohemio-Moravian hills, the southern Moravian hills, the sub-Pannonic foothills of the Carpathian and Alpine systems, the Middle Hungarian Ranges. The communities of the Festucion pallescentis often occupy isolated stations and include rare or relictual species which impart to many of them a distinctive biogeographical and physiognomic individuality. In particular, rare and highly disjunct western outposts occur in the Meuse basin of the Belgian and French Ardennes, harbouring, among others, very isolated populations of Draba aizoides var. montana, Artemisia alba ssp. saxatilis and Hieracium vogesiacum.

Correspondances phytosociologiques

Festuco-Brometea: Stipo pulcherrimae-Festucetalia pallentis (Festucetalia valesiacae: Seslerio-Festucion pallescentis; Festucetalia valesiacae: Seslerio-Festucion duriusculae; Festucetalia valesiacae: Alysso-Festucion pallentis, Helianthemo cani-Festucion pallentis, Seslerio-Festucion glaucae, Asplenio cuneifolii-Armerion serpentini; Festucetalia valesiacae: Asplenio-Festucion pallentis, Bromo-Festucion pallentis, Seslerio-Festucion pallentis)

Bibliography

Devillers P., Devillers-Terschuren J. & Vander Linden C., 2001. PHYSIS Palaearctic Habitat Classification Database. Updated to 10 December 2001. Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles, Bruxelles. (Source)

Wendelberger, 1954; Schumacher, 1977; Soo, 1980; Sanda & al., 1980; Duvigneaud, 1982c, 1985; Moravec & al., 1983; Matuszkiewicz, 1984; Parent, 1986; Ellenberg, 1988; Zimmermann & al., 1989; Oberdorfer, 1990; Pott, 1992: 251; Mucina and Kolbek, 1993a: 459-460; Schubert & al., 1995: 268-272.