The species occurs in different plant communities, most commonly in highly diverse "Festuca ovina"–"Avenula pratensis" grasslands that exist because of intense grazing by sheep or rabbits. These grasslands contain grasses, dicots, and mosses in different mixtures. The turf is short, continuous and consist of very small individual plants. Characteristic species that may be abundant in these grasslands in the UK include the grasses Sheep's fescue "Festuca ovina", red fescue "F. rubra", Quaking-grass "Briza media", crested hair-grass "Koeleria macrantha" and Crested dog's-tail "Cynosurus cristatus", the dicots ribwort plantain "Plantago lanceolata", Small burnet "Poterium sanguisorba" ssp. "sanguisorba", Common Bird's-foot Trefoil "Lotus corniculatus", Common Cat's-ear "Hypochaeris radicata", Mouse-ear hawkweed "Pilosella officinarum", Rough hawkbit "Leontodon hispidus" and Dwarf thistle "Cirsium acaule", and the moss "Pseudoscleropodium purum".