Editing Harz (section)

==== Types of woods ====
[[File:SunShiningThroughDustInWood.jpg|thumb|Spruce woods in the Harz]]

===== Beech woods =====
From the edge of the Harz to 700 m above [[Normalnull|sea level]] beech woods dominate, especially the [[wood-rush]] beech woods on locations poorly supplied with nutrients where the [[common beech]] (''Fagus sylvatica'') is often the only tree species.  In lower, drier locations the [[English oak]] (''Quercus robur'') and [[sessile oak]] (''Quercus petraea'') occur as well. [[Sycamore|Sycamore trees]] (''Acer pseudoplatanus'') may be found growing in wetter places. During times of decay and rejuvenation when there is plenty of light, light-dependent pioneers such as [[European rowan|rowan]] (''Sorbus aucuparia''), [[silver birch]] (''Betula pendula'') and [[pussy willow]] (''Salix caprea'') play a role. [[Melica|Melic grass]] beech woods are found in the few places where there is an abundance of nutrients and [[base-rich|bases]], e. g. over [[dolerite]] and [[gneiss]] formations, and they have a vegetation layer rich in variety and luxuriant growth. Here, too, the common beech dominates, mixed, for example, with sycamore, [[Common ash|ash]] (''Fraxinus excelsior''), [[Common hornbeam|hornbeam]] (''Carpinus betulus'') and [[Scots elm]] (''Ulmus glabra''). As a result of the increasingly continental climate on the eastern edge of the Harz, the common beech gives way to mixed forests of sessile oak.

===== Mixed woods =====
At intermediate heights of between 700 and 800 m above sea level, mixed woods of [[spruce]] (''Picea abies'') and common beech  would predominantly be found under natural conditions. However, apart from a few remnants, these were supplanted a long time ago by spruce stands as a result of deliberate [[forest management]]. Sycamore trees are also found in these woods.

===== Spruce woods =====
Spruce woods thrive in the highest locations from about 800 m to the tree line at around 1,000 m above sea level. These woods are also home to some deciduous trees such as rowan, [[Betula pendula|silver]] and [[downy birch]]es (''Betula pendula'' and ''Betula pubescens'') and [[willow]]s (''Salix spec.''). Conditions of high humidity foster an environment rich in [[moss]]es and [[lichen]]s. In spite of the near-natural habitat there are only a few, indigenous, genetically adapted ([[autochthon (nature)|autochthonous]]) spruce trees. Wood-reed spruce woods dominate. A well developed ground vegetation thrives on their moderately rocky and fresh, but certainly not wet, soils, characterised in appearance especially by grasses such as [[Calamagrostis|shaggy wood-reed]] (''Calamagrostis villosa'') and [[Deschampsia flexuosa|wavy hair-grass]] (''Avenella flexuosa''). The soils in the higher regions are, as in most of the Harz, comparatively poor in nutrients and bases, so that only a few herbaceous plants occur here, such as heath bedstraw (''Galium saxatile''). For that reason it is more the ferns, mosses, lichens and fungi that, in addition to spruce trees, characterise these woods. Boulders and [[stone runs]] occur in the areas of weather-resistant rock in the high (alti-)montane and montane zones – these are extreme habitats for vegetation. Due to the lack of soil material, only weak, straggly, very open spruce woods thrive here. They have an especially high variety of trees and allow more room of light-loving species such as silver birch, rowan, sycamore, willow and dwarf bushes such as the [[blueberry]] (''Vaccinium myrtillus''). Mosses and ferns are also common here. One unusual species is the Carpathian [[birch]] (''Betula pubescens subsp. carpatica''). Bog-spruce woods are found around the raised bogs on marshy and boggy soils. In these sorts of places spruce woods can, in exceptional cases, also form the natural woodland in lower down the mountains.  These wet, moorland woods have a high proportion of [[peat moss]]es (''Sphagnum spec.''). The ground vegetation may also have a rich proliferation of low bushes such as [[cowberry]] (''Vaccinium vitis-idaea''). Clumps of [[Molinia caerulea|purple moor grass]] (''Molinia caerulea'') are also typical of this type of woodland habitat. The characteristic species of fungi in natural spruce woods are ''[[Phellinus|Phellinus viticola]]'' and [[Tricholomopsis|prunes and custard]] (''Tricholomopsis decora'').
Ravine (''Schluchtwald''), [[riparian forest|riparian]] (''Auwald'') and river source (''Quellwald'') woods only occur in small areas. In these places the common beech gives way to hardier deciduous species such as sycamore, [[large-leaved lime]] (''Tilia platyphyllos''), Scots elm or ash. The [[herbaceous layer]] is similar to that of the better-nourished beech woods. Notable species amongst the plant communities here include the [[Cicerbita alpina|Alpine blue-sow-thistle]] (''Cicerbita alpina''), [[perennial honesty]] (''Lunaria rediviva''), [[Polystichum aculeatum|hard shield fern]] (''Polystichum aculeatum'') and [[Phegopteris connectilis|long beech fern]] (''Phegopteris connectilis'').