Medio-European limestone beech forests of the Cephalanthero-Fagion

Description (English)

Xero-thermophile Fagus sylvatica forests developed on calcareous, often superficial, soils, usually of steep slopes, of the medio-European and Atlantic domaines of Western Europe and of central and northern Central Europe, with a generally abundant herb and shrub undergrowth, characterized by sedges (Carex digitata, Carex flacca, Carex montana, Carex alba), grasses (Sesleria albicans, Brachypodium pinnatum), orchids (Cephalanthera spp., Neottia nidus-avis, Epipactis leptochila, Epipactis microphylla) and thermophile species, transgressive of the Quercetalia pubescenti-petraeae. The bush-layer includes several calcicolous species (Ligustrum vulgare, Berberis vulgaris) and Buxus sempervirens can dominate.
The following subtypes are included:
Pal. 41.161 Middle European dry-slope limestone beech forests
Middle European sedge and orchid beech woods of slopes with reduced water availability.
Pal. 41.162 North-western Iberian xerophile beech woods
Fagus sylvatica forests of relatively low precipitation zones of the southern ranges of the Pais Vasco and of superficially dry calcareous soils of the Cordillera Cantabrica, with Brachypodium pinnatum ssp. rupestre, Sesleria argentea ssp. hispanica, Carex brevicollis, Carex ornithopoda, Carex sempervirens, Carex caudata, Cephalanthera damasonium, Cephalanthera longifolia, Epipactis helleborine, Epipactis microphylla, Neottia nidus-avis.