This rare community is known only from the southwestern corner of Wisconsin's Driftless Area. Algific talus slopes are small and isolated and tend to occur on steep north- or east-facing slopes with a substrate of fractured limestone (dolomite) bedrock that retains ice and emits cold air throughout the growing season. The community is dependent on water entering gaps in the dolomite, freezing in winter, and then slowly melting during the summer months and producing a steady outflow of cold air. Cold microhabitats support and enable the persistence of disjunct northern plant species, and periglacial relicts such as northern monkshood (Aconitum noveboracense) and globally rare terrestrial snails. The woody overstory is often sparse, composed of scattered, small black ash (Fraxinus nigra) and paper birch (Betula papyrifera). Mountain maple (Acer spicatum), a northern shrub, may be frequent, and extensive beds of bulblet bladder fern (Cystopteris bulbifera) and mosses are characteristic herbs.
