Title
East Central European submontane acidophilous fir forests (Abies alba) with Vaccinium myrtillus, Deschampsia flexuosa, Luzula pilosa
Geographical distribution
Country/territory
Poland: Polish hill country (Lysa Gora) and south Polish hilly country
area frequency
3 polygons.
Scientific names of main plant communities and their most common synonyms (with author citation)
Abietetum polonicum (Dziubaltowski 1928) Braun-Blanquet & Vlieger 1939 (Vaccinio-Piceetalia, Vaccinio-Abietenion).
Structural feature of the main community(ies) (layers, life-forms, etc.)
Tree layer 70-80 (90) % (coniferous trees, few deciduous trees); shrubs 10-80 %; herb layer 60-80 % (mostly dwarf shrubs, grasses and herbs); ground layer 70-90 (100 !) % (bryophytes). The pedunculate oak plays only an extremely subordinate role in this unit.
Dominant and most frequent species in different layers
Tree layer
Abies alba; often admixed Fagus sylvatica
Shrub layer
Abies alba, Picea abies, Fagus sylvatica
Herb layer
Maianthemum bifolium, Oxalis acetosella, Vaccinium myrtillus
Moss layer (incl. lichens)
Pleurozium schreberi, Hylocomium splendens, Polytrichum formosum
Diagnostically important species
Abies alba, Fagus sylvatica; Hieracium murorum, Athyrium filix-femina, Luzula pilosa, Fragaria vesca, Mycelis muralis, Veronica officinalis; Carex digitata, Dryopteris filix-mas, Lamium galeobdolon, Viola reichenbachiana among others; regional differential species of the associations: Picea abies; Rubus hirtus, Rubus pedemontanus, Cruciata glabra, Dryopteris dilatata, Thuidium tamariscinum, Sphagnum girgensohnii
Ecological variants
No details
Geographical variants (geogr. differential species)
two altitude forms: the colline and the granits form; Differential species of the granits form: Luzula luzuloides, Gentiana asclepiadea amongst other montane species.
Natural accompanying vegetation (most important units in complex with the name giving mapping unit, scientific names)
No details
Adjoining climax and permanent vegetation (with numbers of mapping units)
pine forests (D54), acidic-soil oak forests (F12), species-rich beech forests (F119, F125), oak and pine-oak forests (G1).
Land use, substitute communities
forestry (substitute communities, plantations of economic tree-species, scrub)
Fir, spruce or spruce-pine plantations, usually with an 80 to 100 year rotation time
grassland (meadows, pastures, herb-rich communities)
hardly studied.
arable land (characteristic weed communities)
hardly studied.
settlements (typical ruderal vegetation)
hardly studied.
Site conditions of the mapping unit
Landscape type, geomorphology
Uplands, hilly country
Altitudinal belt and/or altitudinal range
colline, submontane; 250-500(600) m
Geology (bedrock)
Pleistocene sands; siliceous rocke (Palaeozoic)
soil type, also the depth of fine textured earth (soil), stone content; (international nomenclature)
ranker-like soils (often podzole-ranker); podzolic and cryptopodzolic brown soils; (orthic podzols; dystric cambisols; gleyic podzoluvisols; gleyic luvisols)
soil texture
fine-grained sands, lightly loamed sands; silicate-disaggregation soils
soil moisture, water balance
fresh to periodically moist
soil reaction
strong to moderately acidic
soil fertility
mesotrophic
Climate incl. local climate
climate type (following Walter & Lieth)
VI7d, VI8c, VI1
average annual temperature
7-8 °C
average annual precipitation
590-650 mm
average temperature of the warmest month
18-19 °C
average temperature of the coldest month
-5 to -3,5 °C
local climate or other climatic peculiarities
cool, temperate, subozeanic climate.
Importance for nature protection
Present state and development trend of natural vegetation (degree of endangerment)
Representative stands are not rare within the distribution range, but in some regions they are on the decline.
endangered communities, species worthy of protection in natural vegetation
subendemic community worthy of protection.
causes of endangerment
Fir decline, presumably due to increasing air pollution from industrial emissions.
required measures for protection and restitution
No details
Localities of representative stands (loci typici) with state of protection
of the natural vegetation
Poland: well preserved stands are protected in the national parks of "Swietokrzyski" (Lysa Gora) and "Roztocze" (Bez. Zamosc, south-east Poland).
of characteristic substitute communities worthy of protection
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Most important references (author, year)
Braun-Blanquet, Sissingh & Vlieger 1939; Dziubałtowski 1928; Dziubałtowski & Kobendza 1933; Dziubałtowski & Kobendza 1934; Izdebski et al. 1992; Matuszkiewicz 1977
Compiled by
W. Matuszkiewicz
