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Geum rossii - Minuartia obtusiloba Herbaceous Vegetation | Western Ecology Working Group of...
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Name: Geum rossii - Minuartia obtusiloba Herbaceous Vegetation Reference: Western Ecology Working Group of... Description: This plant association has been documented from southwestern Montana in the East Pioneer and Tobacco Root ranges. Stands are found on thin soils weathered from crystalline parent materials. This type is common on exposed, wind-swept, upper slopes, slope shoulders, saddles and ridgetops at elevations of 2990-3230 m (9800-10,600 feet). Extreme winds create a deflation surface with bare ground and gravel comprising nearly 50%, with much of the remainder cloaked by cushion plants. Soils are slightly acidic, have 35-70% coarse fragments, and are predominantly well-drained sandy loams. Structurally this is a cushion plant community with virtually no dwarf-shrub component and a graminoid component reduced to an average of only 4% cover. Only Festuca brachyphylla (= Festuca ovina) exhibits greater than 5% cover and high constancy; Luzula spicata, Carex elynoides, and Poa glauca are at least 50% constant, with low coverage. Mean forb cover is 30% with Geum rossii and Minuartia obtusiloba being 100% constant and together constituting about one-quarter to one-half of the total forb cover. Other important cushion plants are Eritrichium nanum, Phlox pulvinata, Douglasia montana, and Silene acaulis. Selaginella densa and Selaginella watsonii are locally abundant. This is the most characteristic cushion plant/fell-field community of southwestern Montana and is identified by the dominance of the diagnostic species Geum rossii and Minuartia obtusiloba, which sets it apart from other cushion plant communities, such as Phlox pulvinata - Trifolium dasyphyllum Herbaceous Vegetation (CEGL001980) and Antennaria microphylla - Artemisia scopulorum Herbaceous Vegetation (CEGL001847). However, there are other Rocky Mountain cushion plant communities, for instance those of the White Cloud Peaks, Idaho, and Beartooth Mountains, Montana, dominated by and named for Geum rossii, which may be similar, if not synonymous, with the community described here.  Accession Code: VB.CC.21174.GEUMROSSIIMINUA Plot-observations of this Community Concept: 0
	Party Perspective according to: NatureServe (organization) Perspective from: 26-Nov-1997 to: 17-Nov-2014
	status: accepted Community's Parent: Geum rossii Herbaceous Alliance This Community's Level: Association This Community's Children: [none]		Names:   Translated: Ross' Avens - Alpine Stitchwort Herbaceous Vegetation   UID: ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.685934 NatureServe Explorer   Code: CEGL001965   Scientific: Geum rossii - Minuartia obtusiloba Herbaceous Vegetation (convergence) and Synonyms: (undetermined) Geum rossii - Minuartia obtusiloba Herbaceous Vegetation