Boreo-alpine fern snowbed grassland

Acidophilous snowbed communities of alpine and arcto-alpine levels of the Fennoscandian mountains, of Iceland and of the Scottish Highlands dominated by ferns, characteristic of screes with prolonged snow cover, related to the tall-herb communities of unit E5.5. [Cryptogramma crispa], [Athyrium distentifolium] ([Athyrium alpestre]), [Athyrium filix-femina], [Dryopteris expansa] ([Dryopteris assimilis]) or [Dryopteris filix-mas] can dominate the communities. [Galium saxatile], [Calamagrostis purpurea], [Barbilophozia floerkii], [Polytrichum alpinum] are among the associates.