Fixed coastal dunes with herbaceous vegetation ('grey dunes')

Description (English)

Fixed dunes, stabilised and colonised by more or less closed perennial grasslands and abundant carpets of lichens and mosses, from the Atlantic coasts (and the English Channel) between the Straits of Gibraltar and Cap Blanc Nez, and the shores of the North Sea and the Baltic. In the case of the thermo-Atlantic coast, it is logical to include Euphorbio-Helichrysion (Pal. 16.222 - thermo Atlantic as far as Brittany), Crucianellion maritimae (Pal. 16.223 - Strait of Gibraltar as far as the southern Atlantic near Cape Prior in Galicia).
Subtypes
Pal. 16.221: Northern grey dunes: fixed dunes of the Baltic, North Sea, Channel and northern Atlantic, with grass communities and vegetation from Galio-Koelerion albescentis (Koelerion albescentis), Corynephorion canescentis p., Sileno conicae-Cerastion semidecandri.
Pal. 16.222: Biscay grey dunes (Euphorbio-Helichrysion stoechadis): dunes on stabilised humus soil infiltrated by dwarf bushes, of Brittany and the coast of the Bay of Biscay, with Helichrysum stoechas, Artemisia campestris and Ephedra distachya.
Pal. 16.223: Thermo-Atlantic grey dunes (Crucianellion maritimae): suffrutescent communities on more or less stabilised soils low in humus of the thermo-Atlantic coasts of Galicia, Portugal and south-western Spain (as far as the Strait of Gibraltar), with Crucianella maritima and Pancratium maritimum.
Pal. 16.225: Atlantic dune (Mesobromion) grasslands: various sandy coastal sites characterised by herbaceous vegetation in the form of calcicole mesoxerocline grasslands, poor in nitrogen, corresponding to the communities of Mesobromion found by the sea (penetration of aero haline species); dunal grasslands composed of species characteristic of dry calcareous grasslands (Pal. 34.32).
Pal. 16.226: Atlantic dune thermophile fringes: Trifolio-Geranietea sanguinei: Galio maritimi-Geranion sanguinei, Geranium sanguineum formations (Pal. 34.4) incorporated within grey dune systems of the British Isles and Brittany, on neutro basic soils rich in calcium and poor in nitrogen.
Pal. 16.227: Dune fine-grass annual communities: sparse pioneer formations (Pal. 35.2, 35.3) of fine grasses rich in spring-blooming therophytes characteristic of oligotrophic soils (nitrogen poor sand or very superficial soils, or on xerocline to xerophile rocks) (Thero-Airion p.,Nardo-Galion saxatile p., Tuberarion guttatae p.)