British NVC community MC1 (Crithmum maritimum - Spergularia rupicola maritime rock-crevice community) is one of the maritime cliff

Maritime cliff communities in the British National Vegetation Classification system

This article gives an overview of the maritime cliff communities in the British National Vegetation Classification system.-Introduction:The maritime cliff communities of the NVC were described in Volume 5 of British Plant Communities, first published in 2000, along with the other maritime...

 communities in the British National Vegetation Classification

British National Vegetation Classification

The British National Vegetation Classification or NVC is a system of classifying natural habitat types in Great Britain according to the vegetation they contain....

 system. It is one of five communities categorised as maritime cliff crevice and ledge communities.

This community is found locally in coastal areas of western and southern Britain . There are three subcommunities.

Community composition

Four constant species are found in this community:

• Rock Samphire
  Rock samphire
  Samphire or rock samphire, Crithmum maritimum, is the sole species of the genus Crithmum. It is an edible wild plant found on southern and western coasts of Britain and Ireland, on mediterranean and western coasts of Europe including the Canary Islands, North Africa and the Black Sea...
  
   (Crithmum maritimum)
• Greater Sea-spurrey (Spergularia rupicola)
• Red Fescue (Festuca rubra)
• Thrift
  Armeria maritima
  Armeria maritima is the botanical name for a species of flowering plant.It is a popular garden flower, known by several common names, including thrift, sea thrift, and sea pink. The plant has been distributed worldwide as a garden and cut flower...
  
   (Armeria maritima)

At least two rare species are associated with this community, Curved Hard-grass (Parapholis incurva), and the Rock Sea-lavender (Limonium recurvum). Other members of the Limonium binervosum complex may also occur.

Distribution

This community is found in coastal areas on the west coast of Britain, with the greatest concentrations on the western coasts of Wales, and in Devon and Cornwall. Outlying stands exist on the English south coast in Dorset and Kent, and in southwest Scotland.

Subcommunities

There are three subcommunities:

• the so-called typical subcommunity
• the Inula crithmoides subcommunity
• the Rayed Aster tripolium subcommunity