British NVC community OV14 (''Urtica urens'' - ''Lamium amplexicaule'' community) is one of the
open habitat 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 eight arable weed and wasteland communities of fertile loams and clays.
It is a widespread community, with no
subcommunities.
Community composition
The following
constant species are found in this community:
* Shepherd's-purse (''
Capsella bursa-pastoris'')
* Fat-hen (''
Chenopodium album'')
* Annual meadow-grass (''
Poa annua'')
* Groundsel (''
Senecio vulgaris
''Senecio vulgaris'', often known by the common names groundsel and old-man-in-the-spring, is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is an annual herb, native to Europe and widely naturalised as a ruderal species in suitable disturbed hab ...
'')
* Common chickweed (''
Stellaria media
''Stellaria media'', chickweed, is an annual and perennial flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae.Fernald, M. L. 1950. “Gray's Manual of Botany”. Eight Edition. American Book Company, New York, NY. 1632 pp. It is native to Euras ...
'')
* Small nettle (''
Urtica urens
''Urtica urens'', commonly known as annual nettle, dwarf nettle, small nettle, dog nettle, or burning nettle, is a herbaceous annual flowering plant species in the nettle family Urticaceae. It is native to Eurasia, including the Himalayan regions ...
'')
There are three
rare species associated with the community:
* Musk stork's-bill (''
Erodium moschatum'')
* Toothed medick (''
Medicago polymorpha
''Medicago polymorpha'' is a plant species of the genus ''Medicago''. It is native to the Mediterranean basin but is found throughout the world. It forms a symbiotic relationship with the bacterium ''Sinorhizobium medicae'', which is capable of n ...
'')
* London-rocket (''
Sisymbrium irio
''Sisymbrium irio'', the London rocket, is a plant in the family Brassicaceae. It is an annual herb exceeding three feet in height with open, slender stem branches. The flowers are small with four pale yellow petals. The basal leaves are broad an ...
'')
Distribution
This community is widespread throughout the lowlands of southern and eastern Britain and occurs locally on the eastern side of the country as far north as the lowlands of Scotland.
It occurs typically among root and vegetable crops on light soils that are fairly base-poor, being displaced by assemblages such as the
Stellaria - Capsella community in areas that are more intensively fertilised.
References
{{NVC-OV
OV14