__NOTOC__ 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
References
Rodwell, J. S. (1992) British Plant Communities Volume 3 - Grasslands and montane communities (hardback), (paperback)