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Geum rossii - Minuartia obtusiloba Alpine Fell-field | NatureServe Biotics 2019
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Name: Geum rossii - Minuartia obtusiloba Alpine Fell-field
Reference: NatureServe Biotics 2019
Description: This alpine plant association has been documented from southwestern Montana in the East Pioneer and Tobacco Root ranges and the Front Range of north-central Colorado. Stands are common on exposed, windswept upper slopes, slope shoulders, saddles and ridgetops. Typically extreme winds create a deflation surface with bare ground and gravel and rock comprising between 35 and 90% cover. Soils are slightly acidic, have 35-70% coarse fragments, and are predominantly well-drained sandy loams, loams or sand. Stands are found on thin soils weathered from crystalline parent materials including granite. The vegetation is characterized by an open to moderately dense (30-50% cover) low herbaceous layer dominated by <i>Geum rossii</i> and cushion plants with virtually no dwarf-shrub component and a reduced graminoid component. Mean forb cover is 30% with <i>Geum rossii</i> and <i>Minuartia obtusiloba</i> being 100% constant and together constituting about one-quarter to one-half of the total forb cover. Other common forbs are <i>Castilleja occidentalis, Eritrichium nanum, Phlox pulvinata, Douglasia montana, Polygonum viviparum, Silene acaulis, Tonestus pygmaeus</i>, and <i>Trifolium dasyphyllum</i>. <i>Selaginella densa</i> and <i>Selaginella watsonii</i> are locally abundant. Graminoids have low coverage, although some have high constancy and include <i>Carex elynoides, Carex rupestris var. drummondiana, Festuca ovina, Luzula spicata, Poa arctica</i>, and <i>Poa glauca</i>. This cushion plant/fell-field community is identified by the dominance of the diagnostic species <i>Geum rossii</i> and <i>Minuartia obtusiloba</i>, which sets it apart from other cushion plant communities. 
Accession Code: urn:lsid:vegbank.org:commConcept:30874-{D35AE4E4-903E-4AD0-951C-66895635FB1B}
Plot-observations of this Community Concept: 0
      Party Perspective according to: NatureServe (organization)
Perspective from: 13-Jan-2005 to: ongoing
      Names:   UID: ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.685934 NatureServe ExplorerNatureServe Explorer logo
  Code: CEGL001965
  Translated: Ross' Avens - Twin-flower Sandwort Alpine Fell-field
  Scientific: Geum rossii - Minuartia obtusiloba Alpine Fell-field
(convergence) and Synonyms:
(similar) CEGL001965
(similar) Geum rossii - Minuartia obtusiloba Herbaceous Vegetation
(similar) Geum rossii - Minuartia obtusiloba Herbaceous Vegetation