British NVC community MC6 (Atriplex prostrata - Beta vulgaris ssp. maritima sea-bird cliff 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 two communities associated with sea-bird cliffs.

This community is found in a number of coastal areas. There are no subcommunities.

Community composition

Four constant species are found in this community:

• Spear-leaved Orache (Atriplex prostata agg.)
• Sea Beet
  Sea beet
  The sea beet, Beta vulgaris subsp. maritima , is a member of the family Chenopodiaceae. Carl Linnaeus first described Beta vulgaris in 1753; in the second edition of Species Plantarum in 1762 he divided the species into wild and cultivated varieties, giving the name Beta maritima to the wide...
  
   (Beta vulgaris ssp. maritima)
• Red Fescue (Festuca rubra)
• Sea Mayweed (Matricaria maritima)

No rare species are associated with this community.

Distribution

This community is found in coastal areas on the west coast of Britain from southwest Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 to Devon

Devon

Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...

, along the English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 south coast from Cornwall

Cornwall

Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...

 to Sussex

Sussex

Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...

, and at single site in Suffolk

Suffolk

Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...

.