This article gives an overview of the plant communities formed by vegetation of open habitats in the British National Vegetation Classification system.
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, strandline and sand-dune communities, salt-marsh 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)
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
OV4 Chrysanthemum segetum - Spergula arvensis community
OV5 Digitaria ischaemum - Erodium cicutarium community
OV6 Cerastium glomeratum - Fumaria muralis ssp. boraei community
OV7 Veronica persica - Veronica polita community
OV8 Veronica persica - Alopecurus myosuroides community
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
OV16 Papaver rhoeas - Silene noctiflora community
OV17 Reseda lutea - Polygonum aviculare community
OV18 Polygonum aviculare - Chamomilla suavolens community
OV19 Poa annua - Matricaria perforata community
OV20 Poa annua - Sagina procumbens community
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
OV29 Alopecurus geniculatus - Rorippa palustris community
OV30 Bidens tripartita - Polygonum amphibium community
OV31 Rorippa palustris - Filaginella uliginosa community
OV32 Myosotis scorpioides - Ranunculus sceleratus community
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
OV38 Gymnocarpium robertianum - Arrhenatherum elatius community
OV39 Asplenium trichomanes - Asplenium ruta-muraria community
OV40 Asplenium viride - Cystopteris fragilis community
OV41 Parietaria diffusa community
OV42 Cymbalaria muralis community
