British NVC community OV37 (''Festuca ovina - Minuartia verna'' 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 six communities of crevice, scree and spoil vegetation. This is a localised community, which is restricted to heavy-metal soils in the upland fringes of northern and western Britain. There are three subcommunities.

Community composition

The following constant species are found in this community: * Common bent (''

Agrostis capillaris ''Agrostis capillaris'', the common bent, colonial bent, or browntop, is a rhizomatous and stoloniferous perennial in the grass family (Poaceae). It is native to Eurasia and has been widely introduced in many parts of the world. Colonial ben ...

'') * Harebell ('' Campanula rotundifolia'') * Sheep's-fescue (''

Festuca ovina ''Festuca ovina'', sheep's fescue or sheep fescue, is a species of grass. It is sometimes confused with hard fescue (''Festuca trachyphylla''). General description It is a perennial plant sometimes found in acidic ground, and in mountain pastur ...

'') * Spring sandwort (''

Minuartia verna ''Minuartia verna'' is a scarce species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae, known by the common names spring sandwort and leadwort. It is a small mat-forming, perennial herb. Some authorities consider it a synonym of '' Sabulina ver ...

'') * Wild thyme (''

Thymus praecox ''Thymus praecox'' is a species of thyme. A common name is mother of thyme, but "creeping thyme" and "wild thyme" may be used where ''Thymus serpyllum'', which also shares these names, is not found. It is native to central, southern, and western ...

'') There are no rare species associated with the community.

Distribution

This community is restricted to areas where soils are affected by the presence of heavy metals, particularly zinc. It is found on the spoil heaps of lead mines and around outcrops of veins of heavy metals, most commonly in the limestone uplands of the

Mendips The Mendip Hills (commonly called the Mendips) is a range of limestone hills to the south of Bristol and Bath in Somerset, England. Running from Weston-super-Mare and the Bristol Channel in the west to the Frome valley in the east, the hills ...

, the dales of

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

and

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

, and the north Pennines. This community is synonymous with the ''Minuartio - Lamietum alpestris'' Kock 1932, which was first described in Britain by Shimwell.

Subcommunities

There are three subcommunities: * the so-called typical subcommunity * the ''Achillea millefolium - Euphrasia officinalis'' subcommunity * the ''Cladonia'' spp. subcommunity

References

{{NVC-OV OV37