Communities of hay meadows with Arrhenatherum elatius form phytocenoses of at least two plant communities: Arrhenatheretum elatioris – semi-natural habitats, and Tanaceto-Arrhenatheretum elatioris – ruderal habitats. The communities of tall oat-grass include approximately 150 species of vascular plants. In central Poland Tanaceto-Arrhenatheretum is the main habitat for many species characteristic of the Arrhenatherion alliance, including: Pastinaca sativa, Knautia arvensis, Tragopogon pratensis. Hay meadows are vulnerable (VU) components of vegetation of the characterized region. There is a need to verify syntaxonomic units within the Arrhenatherion alliance and phytosociological identifiers of Natura 2000 habitats – extensively used hay lowland meadows (6510).
Plants growing in ruderal habitats can produce from ten to twenty million seeds per specimen. Seed production is not only a species-specific property. It is also determined by several habitat factors such as soil and climate conditions. The study was conducted from 2000 to 2002 in Bezek, a locality in the eastern part of the Lublin Region. The plants under study originated from ruderal habitats. The observations conducted encompassed two types of soil: humic rendzina and light podzolic soil. The study takes into consideration medicinal plant species occurring in great number or in masses on both types of soil. In order to determine seed production, plants were collected at random from various locations within the sites studied, representing various habitat conditions. The data were statistically processed by calculating confidence intervals using Student's test, with a margin of error of 0.05. In each vegetation season, Plantago major was definitely the most productive species. High seed production in each year of research was also exhibited by Daucus carota and Leonurus cardiaca, whereas the lowest seed production in 2000, 2001 and 2002 was shown by Galium aparine and Clechoma hederacea.