Empetrum (crowberry)
Lateglacial vegetation
The Lateglacial period spans the period between ice retreat and the Holocene, the present interglacial period. It includes the Windermere Interstadial, a warm phase between 15 and 13.5 ka, and the subsequent Loch Lomond Stadial cold stage from 13.5 to 11 ka.
In the Flow Country, the first
stable vegetation is an Empetrum heath, with Rumex and Salix
herbacea (pictured). This type of cover appears to have been characteristic
of the Windermere Interstadial, although some sites also show small rises in
birch, pine and heather. The deteriorating conditions in the Loch Lomond Stadial
brought the establishment of open ground and an increase of sediment in put to
bogs: dock and alpine sorrel become important in pollen diagrams (Charman,
1994).