| Country | France |
| Province | Picardy, Normandy |
| References | Durin, Géhu, Noirfalise & Sougnez 1967; Lemée 1937; Roisin 1967 |
| Sum of all taxa | 28.00 |
| Sum of zonal taxa | 25.10 |
| Sum of zonal woody angiosperms | 12.00 |
| Sum of % SCL + LEG | 17.50 |
| Sum of % D-HERB + M-HERB (ZONAL HERB) | 52.19 |
Picard beech forests (Fagus sylvatica) with Hyacinthoides non-scripta, Primula acaulis, Conopodium majus
Endymio-Fagetum Noirfalise & Sougnez 1967, Melico-Fagetum atlanticum Roisin 1967.
In the tree layer (30 to 35 m high) there is dominant beech with admixtures of sessile oak. Their relative proportions vary quite strongly from area to area and frequently even within the same forest. pedunculate oak can also participate in the tree layer. Ash and bird cherry trees are rarer and occur in special edaphic forms in particular. A shrub layer is absent or sparse. The herb layer is species-rich and has a high degree of coverage.
Fagus sylvatica, Quercus petraea; Hyacinthoides non-scripta, Primula acaulis, Conopodium majus (the two species mentioned last appear less frequent), Galium odoratum, Melica uniflora, Lamium galeobdolon
edaphic forms:- mesotrophic form on plains or gentle slopes with a loamy covering of approximately a metre or more. It lies either on glacial drift marl, above chalk layers, or above argilliferous sands or marls; para-brown earths (luvisols) pH 5-6.- hygro-mesotrophic form on heterogeneous loams which feature a covering of loamy or marly substrates. Hygrophilous species (Circaea lutetiana, Veronica montana, Carex remota, Athyrium filix-femina, Dryopteris carthusiana and Deschampsia cespitosa) act as differential species. The B horizon is slightly gleyed and the pH lies between 5 and 5.5.- eutrophic form on deep loams that directly cover the chalky substrate or coarse lutetian limestones in the Ile de France. The profile may still number amongst the luvisol types, but its pH is between 6 to 7. This form is differentiated by Arum maculatum, Adoxa moschatellina, Ranunculus auricomus, Mercurialis perennis, Tamus communis and amongst the shrubs by Acer campestre, Euonymus europaea, Fraxinus excelsior, Ulmus minor and in the environs of Paris by Sorbus torminalis, Ligustrum vulgare, Viburnum lantana and Daphne mezereum.- acidophilous form, in which the two oaks are statistically more frequent, and which is differentiated by Holcus mollis, Convallaria majalis, Teucrium scorodonia, Polytrichum formosum and other transgressive species of the Quercion. It characterises loams with a heterogeneous covering above silicate substrates. It can be found for example in Armorican Normandy (Forest of Cérisy in the Orne), in the forest of Lyons, at the Vexin (Normandy), the Somme or the Boulonnais. Roisin (1967) raised this form to its own community (Periclymeno-Fagetum) which according to Lemée (1937) was described under the name of the Ouerceto-Fagetum using the Forest of Cérisy as an example. Luvisols with a pH of 4.5 to 5.- Form on slopes on strips of thin loam deposits that are either neutral and overgrown with Allium ursinum or acidic and overgrown with ferns such as Dryopteris filix-mas, D. carthusiana, D. dilatata, D. affinis subsp. borreri as well as Polystichum setiferum.
The Endymio-Fagetum extends from the Boulonnais up to the chalk regions of Normandy as well as via the Ile de France (Forests of Compiègne, Vellers-Cotterets etc.). In the northern range of the community (Boulonnais and Upper Normandy) two other epibiontic characteristic species appear (and in fact those of the very rare Hypericum androsaemum) as well as a species that occurs in coastal beech forests, i.e. Cardamine bulbifera (Bois de Tournehem in the Pas-de-Calais, as well as in the Bois de Lyons – Eure - to the east of Rouen). Ruscus aculeatus also appears regularly in the beech forests of Eu, Eawy and Lyons. Within the south of its range, i.e. in the south of the Seine (lower Normandy and Perche) two thermophilous species often appear on relatively dry soils: Ruscus aculeatus and Festuca heterophylla. Endymion on the other hand is restricted to fresher soils.Finally, the proportion of thermophilous species is greater in the Ile-de-France and in the Beauvaisis: Ruscus aculeatus, Festuca heterophylla, Convallaria majalis, Luzula forsteri, Sorbus torminalis. Sometimes Hypericum androsaemum is also found there.Narcissus pseudonarcissus, that appears together with Primula acaulis and Conopodium majus in the Endymio-Carpinetum, is no longer found here.
The following accompanying climax communities appear in valleys which cut into chalk or lutetian limestone layers: beech forests with Fraxinus excelsior, Quercus robur and Quercus petraea (Daphno-Fagetum). These beech forests replace the communities of the Quercion pubescentis in the drier zones of the Endymio-Carpinetum above solid chalk or limestone strata. Amongst the woody plants include Ligustrum vulgare, Cornus mas, Viburnum lantana, Sorbus torminalis, Sorbus aria, Ruscus aculeatus, Daphne laureola and sometimes Buxus sempervirens. In the herb layer elements of the Cephalanthero-Fagion (Carex flacca, Carex digitata, Primula veris, Orchis mascula, Orchis purpurea, Cephalanthera damasonium, Melittis melissophyllum, Helleborus foetidus) as well as the Endymio-Fagetum (Asperula, Melica, Tamus, Endymion and Primula acaulis) are found. Important stands of these beech forests cover the chalk cliff walls of the lower Seine. The Mespilo-Quercetum of the Paris basin radiates as far as the sands located in the Perche; there are also dry grasslands.
soil-acidic oak forests (F4), oak-hornbeam forests (F34), species-rich beech forests (F76), dune vegetation (P6), alder carrs (T1), alluvial and moist forests (U9, U24).
Durin, Géhu, Noirfalise & Sougnez 1967; Lemée 1937; Roisin 1967
A. Noirfalise