British NVC community OV39 (''Asplenium trichomanes'' - ''Asplenium ruta-muraria'' 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 community is widely distributed in areas of suitable habitat, especially in the west of Britain. There are two subcommunities.

Community composition

Four constant species are found in this community: * Wall-rue (''

Asplenium ruta-muraria ''Asplenium ruta-muraria'' is a species of fern commonly known as wall-rue (but which, as a fern, is not by any means closely related to common rue). It is a very small epipetric species, growing exclusively on limestone and other calcareous ro ...

'') * Maidenhair spleenwort (''

Asplenium trichomanes ''Asplenium trichomanes'', the maidenhair spleenwort, is a small fern in the spleenwort genus ''Asplenium''. It is a widespread and common species, occurring almost worldwide in a variety of rocky habitats. It is a variable fern with several subs ...

'') * Silky wall feather-moss ('' Homalothecium sericeum'') * Wall scalewort (''

Porella platyphylla ''Porella platyphylla'' is a species of liverwort belonging to the family Porellaceae. It is native to Eurasia Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Easter ...

'') Two rare species are associated with the community: * Hutchinsia (''

Hornungia petraea ''Hornungia petraea'' (also ''Hutchinsia petraea'') is a flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae. It is native to North and South America, Eurasia, Africa, Macaronesia Macaronesia (Portuguese: ''Macaronésia,'' Spanish: ''Macaronesia'' ...

'') * Nottingham catchfly (''

Silene nutans ''Silene nutans'' is a flowering plant in the genus ''Silene'', most commonly known as Nottingham catchfly. Description ''Silene nutans'' is a diploid, mainly outcrossing, herbaceous, perennial plant. It grows up to tall, from a branching, wood ...

'')

Distribution

This community require a lime-rich substrate and its natural habitat is crevices in limestone bedrock, especially in western Britain, where the more humid conditions are favourable to the weathering of suitable rocks. Elsewhere it is also found widely on artificial substrates, such as on buildings and walls built using limestone and on walls dressed with lime mortar.

Subcommunities

There are two subcommunities: * the ''Trichostomum crispulum - Tortula intermedia'' subcommunity * the ''Sedum acre - Arenaria serpyllifolia'' subcommunity The ''Trichostomum crispulum - Tortula intermedia'' subcommunity is dominated by

fern A fern (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta ) is a member of a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. The polypodiophytes include all living pteridophytes except t ...

s and

bryophyte The Bryophyta s.l. are a proposed taxonomic division containing three groups of non-vascular land plants (embryophytes): the liverworts, hornworts and mosses. Bryophyta s.s. consists of the mosses only. They are characteristically limited in ...

s, and flowering plants are scarce. The ''Sedum acre - Arenaria serpyllifolia'' subcommunity typically contains many more vascular plants, with 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 ...

''), 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 ...

'') and biting stonecrop (''

Sedum acre ''Sedum acre'', commonly known as the goldmoss stonecrop, mossy stonecrop,Dickinson, T.; Metsger, D.; Bull, J.; & Dickinson, R. (2004) ROM Field Guide to Wildflowers of Ontario. Toronto:Royal Ontario Museum, p. 243. goldmoss sedum, biting stonec ...

'') the most frequent.

References

{{NVC-OV OV39