Waxcaps

NVC Key

This is a simple interactive key for quickly matching plants to NVC communities using the JNCC’s NVC Floristic Tables spreadsheet (2006) and Ellenberg indicators.

https://waxcaps.com/tools/nvc_key.html

Instructions

  1. Walk around a patch of one homogeneous type of vegetation and type the name of each plant into the Search box.
    • Partial matches are supported, eg:
      “r sq” = Rhytidiadelphus squarrosus
      “dac g” = Dactylis glomerata
    • For best results, list as many species as you can find (especially grasses), but ignore species if only a single individual is present.
    • The number of communities a species occurs in is displayed beside its name. Click its name to view the full list.
  2. Set the approximate frequency of each species to use weighted scoring, or leave as “any” for simple presence/absence scoring.
    • Low = 1 – 3 (1 – 39%) – occasional
    • Med = 4 – 6 (40 – 69%) – frequent
    • High = 7 – 10 (70 – 100%) – dominant
  3. The best-fitting NVC communities will be displayed in the main panel. Click on a card to see all species in that community.

Scoring

  • Communities score points for each species they contain that’s on your list, relative to their constancy value.
  • Species that are sparse or over-abundant are worth fewer points.
  • Communities lose points if their highest-constancy species are not in your list.
  • Ellenberg indicator values (light, moisture, pH, nutrients, salinity) are averaged across your selected species and the species in each community. Communities lose points if any factor is >15% higher or lower than your species.

Note

This is not intended for serious botanising as it produces different results than calculating floristic tables manually or using TABLEFIT / TABLECORN / MAVIS software.

Species names have been updated from those in the original spreadsheet to currently accepted names using GBIF API. If a species cannot be found, try a synonym. Species described after 2006 are missing.