British NVC community MC3 (Rhodiola rosea - Armeria maritima maritime cliff-ledge community) is one of the maritime cliff

communities A community is a Level of analysis, social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place (geography), place, Norm (social), norms, religion, values, Convention (norm), customs, or Identity (social science), identity. Communiti ...

in the

British National Vegetation Classification __NOTOC__ The British National Vegetation Classification or NVC is a system of classifying natural habitat types in Great Britain according to the vegetation they contain. A large scientific meeting of ecologists, botanists, and other related pr ...

system. It is one of five communities categorised as maritime cliff crevice and ledge communities. This community is confined to

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. There are no subcommunities.

Community composition

Four constant species is found in this community: *

Red Fescue ''Festuca rubra'' is a species of grass known by the common name red fescue or creeping red fescue. It is widespread across much of the Northern Hemisphere and can tolerate many habitats and climates. It is best adapted to well-drained soils in c ...

(''Festuca rubra'') * Thrift (''Armeria maritima'') *

Roseroot ''Rhodiola rosea'' (commonly golden root, rose root, roseroot, Aaron's rod, Arctic root, king's crown, ''lignum rhodium'', orpin rose) is a perennial flowering plant in the family Crassulaceae. It grows naturally in wild Arctic regions of Europe ...

(''Rhodiola rosea'') *

Common Sorrel Sorrel (''Rumex acetosa''), also called common sorrel or garden sorrel, is a perennial herbaceous plant in the family Polygonaceae. Other names for sorrel include spinach dock and narrow-leaved dock ('dock' being a common name for the genus '' ...

(''Rumex acetosa'') No rare species are associated with this community.

Distribution

This community is found on western and northern coasts of Scotland, in the

Shetland Isles Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the ...

, and in

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire ( sco, Aiberdeenshire; gd, Siorrachd Obar Dheathain) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the County of Aberdeen which has substantially differe ...

References

Rodwell, J. S. John S. Rodwell (1946 – present) is an ecologist who was based at the University of Lancaster, noted for his role in the development of the British National Vegetation Classification and as editor of the five volumes of ''British Plant Commu ...

(2000) '' British Plant Communities Volume 5 - Maritime communities and vegetation of open habitats'' (hardback), (paperback) {{NVC-MC MC03