Vegetation of open habitats in the British National Vegetation Classification system

This article gives an overview of the open habitat communities 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, strand-line and sand-dune communities, saltmarsh communities and maritime cliff communities).

In total, 42 open habitat communities have been identified.

The open habitat communities consist of eight separate 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 "Papaveretum argemones" (Libbert 1933) Kruseman & Vlieger 1939

* OV4 "Chrysanthemum segetum - Spergula arvensis" community "Spergulo-Chrysanthemetum segetum" (Br.-Bl. & De Leeuw 1936) R. Tx. 1937

* OV5 "Digitaria ischaemum - Erodium cicutarium" community

* OV6 "Cerastium glomeratum - Fumaria borealis" ssp. "boraei" community

* OV7 "Veronica persica - Veronica polita" community "Veronico - Lamietum hybridi" Kruseman & Vlieger 1939

* OV8 "Veronica persica - Alopecurus myosuroides" community "Alopecuro-Chamomilletum recutitae" Wasscher 1941

* 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 "Kickxietum spuriae" Kruseman & Vlieger 1939

* OV16 "Papaver rhoeas - Silene noctiflora" community "Papaveri-Sileneetum noctiflori" Wasscher 1941

* OV17 "Reseda lutea - Polygonum aviculare" community "Descurainio-Anchusetum arvensis" Silverside 1977

* OV18 "Polygonum aviculare - Chamomilla suavolens" community

* OV19 "Poa annua - Matricaria perforata" community

* OV20 "Poa annua - Sagina procumbens" community "Sagino - Bryetum argentii" Diemont, Sissingh & Westhoff 1940

* 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 "Agrostio - Ranunculetum repentis" Oberdorfer "et al." 1967

* OV29 "Alopecurus geniculatus - Rorippa palustris" community "Ranunculo - Alopecuretum geniculati" R. Tx. (1937) 1950

* OV30 "Bidens tripartita - Polygonum amphibium" community "Polygono - Bidentetum tripartitae" Lohmeyer in R. Tx. 1950

* OV31 "Rorippa palustris - Filaginella uliginosa" community

* OV32 "Myosotis scorpioides - Ranunculus sceleratus" community "Ranunculetum scelerati" R. Tx. 1950 ex Passarge 1959

* 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 "Minuartio-Thlaspietum alpestris" Koch 1932

* OV38 "Gymnocarpium robertianum - Arrhenatherum elatius" community "Gymnocarpietum robertianae" (Kuhn 1937) R. Tx. 1937

* OV39 "Asplenium trichomanes - Asplenium ruta-muraria" community "Asplenietum trichomano-rutae-murariae" R. Tx. 1937

* OV40 "Asplenium viride - Cystopteris fragilis" community "Asplenio viridis-Cystopteridetum fragilis" (Kuhn 1939) Oberdorfer 1977

* OV41 "Parietaria diffusa" community "Parietarietum judaicae" (Arènes 1928) Oberdorfer 1977

* OV42 "Cymbalaria muralis" community "Cymbalarietum muralis" Görs 1966