Hygrophytes.Plants which are sub-evergreen or evergreen but it scierophyllous, and which live in moist soils; e.g., Lastraea lix-mas, Poa pratensis, Carex ovalis, Plantago lanceolala, and ihillaea Millefolium.
A local aggrettion of a species other than the dominant one in an associion brings about a plant society; for example, societies of Ericd etralix, of Scirpus caespitosus, of Molinia coerulea, of Carex irta, of Narthecium ossifra gum, and others may occur within i association of Calluna vulgaris.
On the whole, it consists of local species of some widely distributed northern genera, such as Carex, Poa, Ranunculus, &c., with alpine types of strictly south temperate genera, characteristic of the separate localities.
In the alpine tracts of the north the narrowness of the valleys and the steep stony slopes strewn with debris, on which only lichens and mosses are able to grow, make every plot of green grass (even if it be only of Carex) valuable.
In the more damp and marshy places the bottom is covered with marsh trefoil, carex, smooth equisetum, and rush.