British Plant Communities : National Vegetation Classification
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The first United Kingdom vegetation survey dates back to 1911 with Types of British Vegetation lead by Arthur Tansley. But as this is not a history lesson we shall move rapidly on to concentrate on the vegetation types used by U.K. ecologists today.
Lead by ecologist Professor John Rodwell this substantial work took two decades of data collection and was published in five volumes (approximately 2,500 pages) from 1991 through 1992.
Most pages for each volume is available on Google books and I have added a link to each of these volumes. I have been compiling the data into spreadsheets (.csv file) and they are available for download on this webpage. I have completed Volume 4 (the smallest book). I will upload each sheet as completed. Then I will upload a spreadsheet containing all volumes.
I suggest that you use this information in combination with :
Rodwell J S (2006) National Vegetation Classification: User's Handbook (pdf file), Joint Nature Conservation Committee, ISBN13 978-1-86107-574-1
The five volumes are split into major vegetation types :
Volume 1 – Woodlands & Scrub
Volume 2 - Mires and Heath
Volume 3 – Grasslands & Montane Communities
Volume 4 – Aquatic Communities, Swamps & Tall-herb Fens download the spreadsheet .csv file
Volume 5 – Maritime Communities and Vegetation of Open Habitats
As to why the original Lucid key for Woodland & Scrub on this website no longer works I will be looking into this problem in due course.