Vegetation of open habitats in the British National Vegetation Classification system

This article gives an overview of the plant communities formed by vegetation of open habitats in the British National Vegetation Classification system.

Introduction

The open habitat communities of the NVC were described in Volume 5 of British Plant Communities, first published in 2000, along with the three groups of maritime communities (shingle, strandline and sand-dune communities, salt-marsh communities and maritime cliff communities).

In total, 42 open habitat communities have been identified.

The open habitat communities consist of eight distinct subgroups:

• six arable weed and trackside communities of light, less-fertile acid soils (OV1, OV2, OV3, OV4, OV5 and OV6)
• eight arable weed and wasteland communities of fertile loams and clays (OV7, OV8, OV9, OV10, OV11, OV12, OV13 and OV14)
• three arable weed communities of light, limey soils (OV15, OV16 and OV17)
• six gateway, trackside and courtyard communities (OV18, OV19, OV20, OV21, OV22 and OV23)
• four tall-herb weed communities (OV24, OV25, OV26 and OV27)
• five communities typical of periodically inundated habitats (OV28, OV29, OV30, OV32 and OV33)
• four dwarf-rush communities of ephemeral ponds (OV31, OV34, OV35 and OV36)
• six communities of crevice, scree and spoil vegetation (OV37, OV38, OV39, OV40, OV41 and OV42)

List of open habitat communities

The following is a list of the communities that make up this category:

• OV1 Viola arvensis - Aphanes microcarpa community
• OV2 Briza minor - Silene gallica community
• OV3 Papaver rhoeas - Viola arvensis community
• OV4 Chrysanthemum segetum - Spergula arvensis community
• OV5 Digitaria ischaemum - Erodium cicutarium community
• OV6 Cerastium glomeratum - Fumaria muralis ssp. boraei community
• OV7 Veronica persica - Veronica polita community
• OV8 Veronica persica - Alopecurus myosuroides community
• OV9 Matricaria perforata - Stellaria media community
• OV10 Poa annua - Senecio vulgaris community
• OV11 Poa annua - Stachys arvensis community
• OV12 Poa annua - Myosotis arvensis community
• OV13 Stellaria media - Capsella bursa-pastoris community
• OV14 Urtica urens - Lamium amplexicaule community
• OV15 Anagallis arvensis - Veronica persica community
• OV16 Papaver rhoeas - Silene noctiflora community
• OV17 Reseda lutea - Polygonum aviculare community
• OV18 Polygonum aviculare - Chamomilla suavolens community
• OV19 Poa annua - Matricaria perforata community
• OV20 Poa annua - Sagina procumbens community
• OV21 Poa annua - Plantago major community
• OV22 Poa annua - Taraxacum officinale community
• OV23 Lolium perenne - Dactylis glomerata community
• OV24 Urtica dioica - Galium aparine community
• OV25 Urtica dioica - Cirsium arvense community
• OV26 Epilobium hirsutum community
• OV27 Epilobium angustifolium community
• OV28 Agrostis stolonifera - Ranunculus repens community
• OV29 Alopecurus geniculatus - Rorippa palustris community
• OV30 Bidens tripartita - Polygonum amphibium community
• OV31 Rorippa palustris - Filaginella uliginosa community
• OV32 Myosotis scorpioides - Ranunculus sceleratus community
• OV33 Polygonum lapathifolium - Poa annua community
• OV34 Allium schoenoprasum - Plantago maritima community
• OV35 Lythrum portula - Ranunculus flammula community
• OV36 Lythrum hyssopifolia - Juncus bufonius community
• OV37 Festuca ovina - Minuartia verna community
• OV38 Gymnocarpium robertianum - Arrhenatherum elatius community
• OV39 Asplenium trichomanes - Asplenium ruta-muraria community
• OV40 Asplenium viride - Cystopteris fragilis community
• OV41 Parietaria diffusa community
• OV42 Cymbalaria muralis community