This handbook provides a general introduction to the National Vegetation Classification (NVC). It details the methodology for sampling and describing vegetation in the field, explains how such information can be used to identify plant communities and outlines the character of the classification itself and the accounts of vegetation types it contains. It also discusses the important issues involved in carrying out an NVC survey of a site and gives a brief indication of other applications of the scheme. This is a reprint edition of: ISBN 978-1-86107-574-1 (2006).