Synonymy

Erica vagans-Ulex europaeus ‘Mixed Heath’ Coombe & Frost 1956a p.p..; Ulici maritimi-Ericetum vagantis (Géhu 1962) Géhu & Géhu 1973 emend. Bridgewater 1980; Erica vagans-Ulex europaeus heath Hopkins 1983 p.p.

Constant species

Agrostis canina ssp. montana, Carex flacca, Erica cinerea, E. vagans, Filipendula vulgaris, Ulex europaeus, U. gallii, Viola riviniana.

Rare species

Agrostis curtisii, Allium schoenoprasum, Erica vagans, Juncus capitatus, Scilla verna, Trifolium bocconei.

Physiognomy

The Erica vagans-Ulex europaeus heath is a distinctive kind of sub-shrub vegetation, but one that is rather variable in its floristics and structure, a feature recognised in Coombe & Frost's (1956a) epithet of ‘Mixed Heath’. In fact, as defined here, the community excludes some of the vegetation which these authors and also Hopkins (1983) considered as falling within their Erica-Ulex heaths, but it still encompasses stands which differ quite markedly from one another, variation which can be related partly to edaphic and local climatic factors and partly to treatment, especially the frequency and intensity of burning. The influence of the former factors can be seen in the ordered differentiation of the subcommunities; the effects of treatment tend to cross-cut this variation, resulting in complex mosaics of vegetation in all stages of regeneration.

The most obvious constant feature of the community is the mixed canopy of sub-shrubs in which Erica vagans and Ulex europaeus are the usual co-dominants, a combination which is not confined to this kind of heath but which is most often found here. In newly-burned stands, the cover of these and the other sub-shrubs can be low, with masses of new shoots sprouting from half Buried stools. And in extreme environmental conditions, where this heath is found as the Festuca subcommunity over summer-parched soils in exposed situations, even old stands can have small, scattered windpruned bushes no more than 1 dm high and with a total cover of less than 20%. Generally, however, the canopy grows taller than this, most often 3-6 dm high, even more in sheltered sites, and is much more extensive, covering 60-90% of the ground. In the immediate aftermath of fires, E. vagans, which regenerates rapidly, may be the most prominent species but, with the passage of time, U. europaeus matches it in cover and height and usually overtops it after 7 or 8 years.