Is there a distinctive plant community on limestone dry stone walls?
Even if the flora of dry stone walls is different from that of mortared walls, and the flora of limestone dry stone walls different from that of their acid counterparts, it does not follow that the limestone dry stone wall flora is unique. It could still be regarded as part of a wider community type not necessarily confined to walls, but including other rocky environments. Unfortunately, this has been little investigated. The detailed classification of British plants communities accomplished in recent years (Rodwell 2000) has not identified an association for this environment. Is it possible, though, that it could be encompassed by communities or subcommunities identified by Rodwell for rocky environments? There are three possibilities – OV39b, OV41a and OV42, all of which have walls and, at least by implication, mortar mentioned as among their habitats, though there is no reference to dry stone walls. Each is compared below with the Winsley dry stone wall flora, using Rodwellss criter
