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Juncus drummondii - Juncus parryi - Sibbaldia procumbens Rocky Mountain Alpine Snowbed Alliance | NatureServe Biotics 2019
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Name: Juncus drummondii - Juncus parryi - Sibbaldia procumbens Rocky Mountain Alpine Snowbed Alliance
Reference: NatureServe Biotics 2019
Description: These snowbed communities are characterized by a low to dense herbaceous layer dominated by diagnostic species <i>Carex ebenea, Carex nigricans, Carex paysonis, Carex pyrenaica, Carex subnigricans, Juncus drummondii, Juncus parryi, Poa arctica ssp. grayana, Trifolium parryi</i>, and snowbed indicator species <i>Sibbaldia procumbens</i>. In the more xeric stands, a moss layer dominated by <i>Polytrichastrum alpinum, Polytrichum piliferum</i>, or <i>Pohlia obtusifolia</i> can be present. This small-patch alpine alliance occurs in the Rocky Mountain cordillera and high-elevation areas in the Colorado Plateau and Great Basin and is frequently found on the lee side of ridges and in depressions where late-melting snowbed and hygric swales are fed by snowmelt and seeps occur. Stands are located on lee sides of ridges, saddles, hills and knolls, and rock outcrops and in snow-filled depressions from 2520-3760 m elevation depending on latitude. The snowmelt creates wet-mesic soil conditions that last through most of the growing season and can produce lush vegetation. Snowbed communities often develop in concentric rings with later melting communities in the center. Some sites do not become snow-free until August and have a very short growing season with little time for vegetation to develop. Substrates are variable and range from muck to well-drained, shallow, coarse to fine-textured mineral soil. 
Accession Code: urn:lsid:vegbank.org:commConcept:38460-{CFBFBB96-EFAB-4B45-8F5D-9B1790F4DEBE}
Plot-observations of this Community Concept: 0
      Party Perspective according to: NatureServe (organization)
Perspective from: 14-Mar-2014 to: ongoing
      Names:   UID: ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.899297 NatureServe ExplorerNatureServe Explorer logo
  Code: A3172
  Translated: Drummond's Rush - Parry's Rush - Creeping Sibbaldia Rocky Mountain Alpine Snowbed Alliance
  Common: Rocky Mountain Rush - Sibbaldia Alpine Snowbed
  Scientific: Juncus drummondii - Juncus parryi - Sibbaldia procumbens Rocky Mountain Alpine Snowbed Alliance