Fenno-Scandian polar willow snowbed communities

Snowbed communities of the boreal and arcto-alpine mountains of Scandinavia, characteristic of the edges of snowfields on calcareous often stone-littered soils with near-surface ground water or moisture in early spring and little or no solifluction, constituted by dense carpets of mosses and forbs in which [Salix polaris] dominates, often totally; the species cortège includes [Salix reticulata], [Polygonum viviparum] ([Bistorta vivipara]), [Erigeron uniflora], [Omalotheca supina] ([Gnaphalium supinum]), [Minuartia biflora], [Ranunculus pygmaeus], [Saxifraga aizoides], [Saxifraga cernua], [Saxifraga stellaris], [Saxifraga tenuis], [Silene acaulis], [Taraxacum croceum], [Thalictrum alpinum], [Tofieldia pusilla], [Veronica alpina], [Viola biflora], [Carex lachenalii], [Poa alpina f. vivipara] and mosses.