NVC community M20 is one of the mire

Mires in the British National Vegetation Classification system

This article gives an overview of the mire communities in the British National Vegetation Classification system.-Introduction:The mire communities of the NVC were described in Volume 2 of British Plant Communities, first published in 1991, along with the heath communities.In total, 38 mire...

 communities in the British National Vegetation Classification

British National Vegetation Classification

The British National Vegetation Classification or NVC is a system of classifying natural habitat types in Great Britain according to the vegetation they contain....

 system.

It is a comparatively localised community. There are two subcommunities.

Community composition

Two constant species, Common Cottongrass

Common Cottongrass

Common Cottongrass is a plant from the sedge family, so even though it looks like a form of grass, technically it is not. It grows in acidic wetlands and peat bogs all over northern parts of Europe, Asia and North America...

 (Eriophorum angustifolium) and Hare's-tail Cottongrass (Eriophorum vaginatum), are found in this community.

No rare species are associated with the community.

Distribution

This community is found throughout northern England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It is extensive in the southern Pennines

Pennines

The Pennines are a low-rising mountain range, separating the North West of England from Yorkshire and the North East.Often described as the "backbone of England", they form a more-or-less continuous range stretching from the Peak District in Derbyshire, around the northern and eastern edges of...

, but more local elsewhere. It is also found locally in eastern Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 and south Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

. It is mainly found within tracts of upland blanket bog, but also locally on raised bogs.

Subcommunities

There are two subcommunities:

• the so-called Species-poor subcommunity
• the Calluna vulgaris - Cladonia spp. subcommunity