VII] MOORLAND ASSOCIATIONS 185 



of the dominant plant, and an increase of less hydrophilous 

 species, such as the bilberry (Vacdnium 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 strictd), which enables the lonely wanderer 

 to pick his way and to avoid the quagmires which lurk between 

 the tufts of the cotton-grass. Calluna vulgaris, Nardus stricta, 

 Deschampsia flexuosa, 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 seq.) does not describe an asso- 

 ciation of Eriophorum vaginatum in the Faeroes, though 

 associations are detailed in which "Eriophorum" and "E. poly- 

 stachium" (= E. angustifolium) respectively are said to be 

 dominant. Pethy bridge and Praeger (1905) do not find an 

 association of Eriophorum vaginatum in the northern Wiqklow 

 mountains, where, it would appear, associations of E. angusti- 

 folium and of Scirpus caespitosus hold the same zonal relation- 

 ship to heather moors that the association of E. vaginatum does 

 on the Pennines. 



The following short list includes all the flowering plants 

 which have been met with, away from streamsides and 



