British NVC community CG7

NVC community CG7 (Festuca ovina - Hieracium pilosella - Thymus praecox/pulegioides grassland) is one of the calcicolous grassland communities in the British National Vegetation Classification system. It is one of three short-sward communities associated with heavy grazing, within the lowland calcicolous grassland group, and is regarded as the eastern counterpart of "typical" chalk grassland (community CG2).

It is a comparatively widely distributed community. There are five subcommunities.

Community composition

The following constant species are found in this community:

  • Sheep's Fescue (Festuca ovina)
  • Mouse-ear Hawkweed (Hieracium pilosella)
  • Rough Hawkbit (Leontodon hispidus)
  • Wild Thyme (Thymus praecox) / Large Thyme (T. pulegioides)
  • Cypress-leaved Plait-moss (Hypnum cupressiforme)

The following rare species are also associated with the community:

  • Field Wormwood (Artemisia campestris)
  • Purple Milk-vetch (Astragalus danicus)
  • Rare Spring-sedge (Carex ericetorum)
  • Wall Bedstraw (Galium parisiense)
  • Lizard Orchid (Himantoglossum hircinum)
  • Hutchinsia (Hornungia petraea)
  • Bur Medick (Medicago minima)
  • Sickle Medick (Medicago falcata)
  • Sand Lucerne (Medicago sativa ssp. varia)
  • Fine-leaved Sandwort (Minuartia hybrida)
  • Purple-stem Cat's-tail (Phleum phleoides)
  • Spring Cinquefoil (Potentilla neumanniana)
  • Sand Catchfly (Silene conica)
  • Spanish Catchfly (Silene otites)
  • Breckland Thyme (Thymus serpyllum)
  • Spiked Speedwell (Veronica spicata)
  • Spring Speedwell (Veronica verna)
  • Side-fruited Crisp-moss Pleurochaeta squarrosa
  • the lichen Bacidia muscorum
  • the lichen Buellia epigaea
  • the lichen Diploschistes scrupsos var. bryophilus
  • the lichen Fulgensia fulgens
  • the lichen Lecidea decipiens
  • the lichen Squamaria lentigera
  • the lichen Toximia caerulea var. nigricans
  • the lichen Toximia lobulata

Distribution

This community is found scattered throughout chalk grassland sites in southern England, particularly in The Brecks on the Norfolk/Suffolk border, with outlying clusters in the Yorkshire Wolds (also on chalk), and on Carboniferous limestone in Derbyshire and Mendip Hills.

Subcommunities

There are five subcommunities:

  • the Koeleria macrantha subcommunity
  • the Cladonia spp. subcommunity
  • the Ditrichum flexicaule - Diploschistes scruposus var. bryophilus subcommunity
  • the Fragaria vesca - Erigeron acer subcommunity
  • the Medicago lupulina - Rumex acetosa subcommunity
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References
  • Rodwell, J. S. (1992) British Plant Communities Volume 3 - Grasslands and montane communities ISBN 0-521-39166-0 (hardback), ISBN 0-521-62719-2 (paperback)
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