The flora and vegetation of magnesian limestone sea cliffs, County Durham

Calcicolous and mesotrophic grassland habitats were dominant and graded into a complex mosaic of smaller, isolated habitats. Abundant and constantly distributed species consisted mainly of common grassland perennials. Species rare in County Durham were often restricted to the smaller, isolated habitats, particularly calcareous flushes and marshy cliff hollows. Here rare species of contrasting phytogeographic distributions were observed growing together forming unusual, species-rich communities. A number of rare species were not recorded from known locations suggesting that some important and unique wetland assemblages may have been lost from the local flora. Such losses represent the most serious threat to the conservation interest of the cliffs. -from Authors