Swamps and tall-herb fens in the British National Vegetation Classification system

This article gives an overview of the swamp and tall-herb fen communities in the British National Vegetation Classification system.

Introduction[]

The swamp and tall-herb fen communities of the NVC were described in Volume 4 of British Plant Communities, first published in 1995, along with the aquatic communities.

In total, 28 swamp and tall-herb fen communities have been identified.

The swamp and tall-herb fen communities consist of three separate subgroups:

• twenty-one swamp communities, characterised by being species-poor, each dominated by an often tall or bulky monocotyledon species, with little or nothing in the way of an understorey: S1, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and
• two communities termed "water-margin vegetation": and
• five tall-herb fen communities, which have a more species-rich understorey than the swamps: , , , and

List of swamp and tall-herb fen communities[]

The following is a list of the communities that make up this category:

• S1 Carex elata sedge-swamp Caricetum elatae Koch 1926