British NVC community MC4 (Brassica oleracea maritime cliff-ledge 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 on the south coast of England. There are two subcommunities.

Community composition

Four constant species are found in this community:

• Red Fescue (Festuca rubra)
• Wild Cabbage (Brassica oleracea)
• Cock's-foot (Dactylis glomerata)
• Sea Carrot (Daucus carota ssp. gummifer)

Three rare species are associated with this community, Wild Cabbage itself, Early Spider-orchid

Ophrys sphegodes

Ophrys sphegodes, commonly known as the Early Spider Orchid, is a species of orchid found on alkaline meadows and waste land. It has a distribution that includes western and northern Europe extending to parts of southern England but may also be found as far east as Corfu and possibly also in...

 (Ophrys sphegodes) and Nottingham Catchfly

Nottingham Catchfly

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....

 (Silene nutans).

Distribution

This community is found on the south coast of Britain, in west 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...

, Dorset

Dorset

Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...

 and Kent

Kent

Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

.

Subcommunities

There are two subcommunities:

• the Beta vulgaris ssp. maritima subcommunity
• the Rayed Ononis repens subcommunity