Alpide dwarf [Vaccinium] wind heaths

Very low, single-stratum, carpets of prostrate [Vaccinium] spp. and lichens, of windswept, mostly snowfree, localities in the alpine belt of the high mountains of the Alpine system, for the most part [Vaccinium]-dominated facies of the trailing azalea communities, in which [Loiseleuria procumbens] often accompanies [Vaccinium myrtillus], [Vaccinium vitis-idaea] or [Vaccinium uliginosum], the latter represented, as in 31.411, 31.44 and 31.4A, by the distinctive low, small-leaved, creeping, mat-forming entity variously referred to as [Vaccinium gaultherioides], [Vaccinium uliginosum ssp. microphyllum], [Vaccinium alpina], [Vaccinium pubescens], [Vaccinium uliginosum ssp. pubescens].