Hedgehog-heaths

Primary cushion heaths of the high, dry mountains with low, cushion-forming, often spiny shrubs, in particular of genera [Acantholimon], [Astragalus] and various composites and labiates; secondary, zoogenic cushion heaths of the same regions, either downslope extensions of the high-altitude formations, and dominated by the same species, or specifically montane or steppic. Excluded are cushion-heaths of thermo-Mediterranean lowlands.