Common name:
Mediterranean coastal halo-nitrophilous pioneer communities
Description:
Formations of halo-nitrophilous annuals ([Frankenia pulverulenta], [Suaeda splendens], [Salsola soda], [Cressa cretica], [Parapholis incurva], [Parapholis strigosa], [Hordeum marinum], [Sphenopus divaricatus], [Polypogon maritimus], [Spergularia] spp., [Vella annua]) colonizing salt muds of Mediterranean and thermo-Atlantic coastal regions, of Iberian and North African endoreic basins, susceptible to temporary inundation and extreme drying; they are more species-rich or richer in non-chenopodids than the communities of unit 15.113; they are particularly developed in the Iberian peninsula, secondarily in the large Mediterranean islands, in coastal regions and endoreic basins of North Africa, in southern Italy and Mediterranean France; they occur as irradiations on thermo-Atlantic coasts, notably on the Atlantic coast of France. Somewhat similar communities occur in the steppe zones of Eurasia and their regions of influence, as well as in Saharo-Mediterranean steppes of North Africa; they are included in units 15.14 and 15.15.