Synonymy

Rhacomitrio-Vaccinietum Smith 1905 p.p.; Rhacomitrium-Carex bigelowii nodum, Empetrum hermaphroditum faciès Poore & McVean 1957; Empetrum-hypnoid moss community Poore & McVean 1957, Rhacomitreto-Empetretum McVean & Ratcliffe 1962, Birks 1973; EmpeZrwm-hypnaceous moss heath McVean & Ratcliffe 1962; Alchemilla alpina-Vaccinium myrtillus nodum Birks 1973.

Constant species

Carex bigelowii, Deschampsia flexuosa, Empetrum nigrum ssp. hermaphroditum, Festuca ovina/vivipara, Galium saxatile, Vaccinium myrtilus, Hylocomium splendens, Pleurozium schreberi, Racomitrium lanuginosum, Rhytidiadelphus loreus, Cladonia uncialis.

Rare species

Anastrophyllum donianum, A. joergensenii, Bazzania pearsonii, Mastigophora woodsii, Plagiochila carringtonii, Scapania ornithopodioides.

Physiognomy

The Vaccinium myrtillus-Racomitritum lanuginosum heath brings together a variety of vegetation types in which Vaccinium myrtillus and/or Empetrum nigrum ssp. hermaphroditum, occasionally with other sub-shrubs, are co-dominant with Racomitrium lanuginosum or, in some stands, hypnaceous mosses. V. myrtillus is the commonest woody plant overall, although it is quite often subordinate in cover to E. nigrum ssp. hermaphroditum, the two forming a low mat, generally less than 1 dm thick, which has the appearance of a patchy mosaic of bushes growing among the moss carpet. V. vitis-idaea also occurs commonly in most types of Vaccinium-Racomitrium heath, though usually at low cover, and there is very occasionally some V. uliginosum. Calluna vulgaris is typically scarce throughout, though it becomes a little more common at lower altitudes, where the vegetation can approach the Calluna-Racomitrium heath (as on Skye: Birks 1973); Juniperus communis ssp. nana and Erica cinerea can also show local prominence in such stands. In other cases, Alchemilla alpina, which is quite a frequent plant through the Vaccinium-Racomitrium heath, attains co-dominance among the subshrubs. As well as these floristic differences, there is also considerable variation in the total cover of the woody mat, with vegetation at one extreme looking very obviously heathy, other stands resembling Carex-Racomitrium moss-heath with a local abundance of subshrubs (Poore & McVean 1957).

Floristic continuity in that particular direction is strengthened by the high frequency here of such vascular associates as Carex bigelowii, Festuca ovinalvivipara, Deschampsia flexuosa and Galium saxatile, although these plants are not generally as abundant as they can be in the Carex-Racomitrium heath: C. bigelowii sometimes occurs as scattered, quite large,