Synonymy

Caricetum paniculatae Tansley 1939; Primary tussock fen Lambert 1951 p.p.; Carex paniculata swamp Poore & Walker 1959, Sinker 1962; Carex paniculata-Angelica sylvestris sociation Spence 1964 p.p.; Caricetum paniculatae typicum Wheeler 1980a; Carex paniculata-Rubus fruticosus community Ratcliffe and Hattey 1982.

Constant species

Carex paniculata.

Physiognomy

The Caricetum paniculatae is dominated by tussocks of Carex paniculata, the stocks of which may attain a massive size, often reaching more than 1 m in height and diameter and being crowned by spreading stems and leaves 1 m or so long. Between the tussocks, which, at one site (Sweat Mere, Shropshire: Clapham in Tansley 1939), had centres 0.75-3 m apart, there is standing water or exposed peat and silt. Here, the vegetation is characteristically sparse and species-poor. There may be a few shoots of emergent Phragmites australis, Sparganium erectum, Typha latifolia, Equisetum fluviatile or Epilobium hirsutum and, beneath scattered plants of Caltha palustris, Viola palustris and Myosotis scorpioides and sometimes Potentilla palustris and Menyanthes trifoliata; in other cases, just a few wefts of Eurhynchium praelongum and Brachythecium rutabulum and occasional plants of Lemna minor occur on largely bare expanses of substrate.

The tussocks themselves usually support some epiphytes, although the flora here is never as rich as that on C. paniculata tussocks in the Peucedano-Phragmitetum and the Phragmites australis-Eupatorium cannabinum fen. In particular, seedlings of Salix cinerea or, in the north, 5. atrocinerea, and Alnus glutinosa, are rare. However, some of the following are generally present: Angelica sylvestris, Filipendula ulmaria, Galium palustre, Rubus fruticosus agg., Solanum dulcamara and, particularly distinctive, Athyrium filix-femina and Dryopteris dilatata.

Habitat

The community is most characteristic of the shallows of lowland open-water transitions such as occur around lakes, pools and abandoned ox-bows. Less frequently, it may be found in basin, valley and flood-plain mires and in peat cuttings. C. paniculata is often associated with situations where there is some, at least seasonal, movement in and eutrophication of base-rich waters (e.g. Lambert 1951). Here, however, it is dominant in waters that, though often calcareous and base-rich (calcium content 71-74 mg I-1, pH 7.1-8.1: Poore & Walker 1959, Sinker 1962), have little through-put and are perhaps more mesotrophic.