VII] MOORLAND ASSOCIATIONS 185 
of the dominant plant, and an increase of less hydrophilous 
species, such as the bilberry (Vaccinium Myrtillus) and crow- 
berry (Empetrum nigrum). The young shoots of both of these 
are, in early spring, frequently characterized by rich tints of 
red and brown which enliven an otherwise dreary landscape. 
An outcrop of shale is marked by a series of springs, around 
which featureless Juncus swamps (see pages 146 to 150) occur. 
A steep slope of shale, damp from oozing water, brings about the 
vivid greenness of grasses, and locally perhaps of a Sphagnum 
swamp. Footpaths, as in the heather moors, are marked by a line 
of mat-grass (Nardus stricta), which enables the lonely wanderer 
to pick his way and to avoid the quagmires which lurk between 
the tufts of the cotton-grass. Calluna vulgarvs, Nardus stricta, 
Deschampsia flecuosa, and Juncus squarrosus follow the head- 
streams almost to their sources. 
Ferns and horsetails are absent from all parts of the cotton- 
grass moor: club-mosses are extremely rare; and, whilst species 
of mosses, liverworts, Algae, lichens, and Fungi occur here and 
there, few are really common, and none is of general occurrence. 
The total absence of moorland tarns and valley lakes is not 
compensated by the artificial reservoirs which are being con- 
structed in the valleys and less frequently on the moors (see 
figure 36), as the reservoirs harbour no natural aquatic vege- 
tation such as occurs in the Scottish tarns and lochs. 
The association of Eriophorum vaginatum is also found 
on the lowland “mosses” of Lancashire and Cheshire ; and it 
would indeed appear to be specially characteristic of the 
moors of northern England. 
Ostenfeld (1908: 947, et seg.) does not describe an asso- 
ciation of Eriophorum vaginatum in the Faerées, though 
associations are detailed in which “ Hriophorum” and “E. poly- 
stachium” (=E. angustifolium) respectively are said to be 
dominant. Pethybridge and Praeger (1905) do not find an 
association of Hriophorum vaginatum in the northern Wicklow 
mountains, where, it would appear, associations of #. angusti- 
folium and of Scirpus caespitosus hold the same zonal relation- 
ship to heather moors that the association of EL. vaginatum does 
on the Pennines. 
The following short list includes all the flowering plants 
which have been met with, away from streamsides and 
