Title
Subatlantic-Central European oak forests (Quercus petraea, Quercus robur), partly with Pinus sylvestris, with Calamagrostis arundinacea, Melica nutans, Rubus saxatilis, Orthilia secunda, locally pine forests on inland dunes
Geographical distribution
Country/territory
Germany: east German lowland, northern Upper Rhine plain (west of Mainz, Griesheim, north of Lampertheim); Poland: southwestern lowland (Lower Silesia)
area frequency
40 polygons.
Scientific names of main plant communities and their most common synonyms (with author citation)
Calamagrostio-Quercetum petraeae (Hartmann 1934) Scamoni & Passarge 1959, Pyrolo-Quercetum Passarge 1957 (pseudonyms: Pino-Quercetum sensu auct. polon. et german. non Kozlowska 1925, non Reinhold 1944, Fago-Quercetum sensu auct. polon. non Tüxen 1955, Vaccinio vitis-idaeae-Quercetum Oberdorfer 1957 p. p. (typo excluso, only central European formations).
Structural feature of the main community(ies) (layers, life-forms, etc.)
Tree layer (70-80 %) in the typical form primarily of oaks with added pine (with very differing proportions due to the effects of afforestation); shrub layer poorly to moderately developed (especially deciduous woody plants); species-deficient herb layer with numerous and sometimes blankets of Ericaceae 70-80 % (grasses, small perennials, dwarf shrubs); varyingly developed moss layer.
Dominant and most frequent species in different layers
Tree layer
Quercus petraea, Quercus robur, Pinus sylvestris, (Betula pendula, Betula pubescens)
Shrub layer
Sorbus aucuparia, Frangula alnus, Populus tremula, Juniperus communis, Rubus idaeus
Herb layer
Melampyrum pratense, Pteridium aquilinum, Agrostis capillaris, Anthoxanthum odoratum, Poa angustifolia, Deschampsia flexuosa, Carex pilulifera, Calluna vulgaris, Veronica officinalis, Lathyrus linifolius, Vaccinium myrtillus, Vaccinium vitis-idaea, Festuca ovina, Luzula pilosa, Dryopteris carthusiana, Maianthemum bifolium, Rubus saxatilis, Pyrola rotundifolia, Orthilia secunda, Calamagrostis arundinacea, Melica nutans, Carex digitata, Oxalis acetosella, Polypodium vulgare, Convallaria majalis, Hieracium murorum
Moss layer (incl. lichens)
Polytrichum formosum, Dicranum scoparium, Hypnum cupressiforme, Dicranella heteromalla, Pohlia nutans, Pleurozium schreberi, Leucobryum glaucum, Cladonia spp., Dicranum polysetum, Polytrichum juniperinum, Scleropodium purum, Atrichum undulatum, Plagiomnium affine, Hylocomium splendens, Brachythecium velutinum
Diagnostically important species
Quercus petraea, Pinus sylvestris; Vaccinium vitis-idaea, Calamagrostis arundinacea, Convallaria majalis, Rubus saxatilis, Orthilia secunda, Hieracium laevigatum, Hieracium murorum, Hieracium sabaudum, Hypnum cupressiforme
Ecological variants
Groundwater and waterlogging influenced forms (winter-wet summer-dry) with Quercus robur and Molinia arundinacea; dry form on nutrient and colloid-richer soils with Quercus petraea, Convallaria majalis and Hieracium spp., sometimes with Polygonatum odoratum and Festuca psammophila.
Geographical variants (geogr. differential species)
In the (subatlantic) Upper Rhine region with Festuca ovina, Cytisus scoparius).
Natural accompanying vegetation (most important units in complex with the name giving mapping unit, scientific names)
Cladonio- and Vaccinio-Pinetum, Potentillo-Quercetum, masterwort-pine forest (Peucedano-Pinetum); siliceous dry grassland (Diantho-Armerietum); in the Upper Rhine region basiphilous mixed pedunculate oak forests and pine forests (Pyrolo-Pinetum) on lime-rich windswept sands.
Adjoining climax and permanent vegetation (with numbers of mapping units)
pine forests (D54), mixed acidophilous oak forests (F9, F12), pedunculate oak- and sessile oak-hornbeam forests (F35, F38, F50, F51, F55, F57), species-poor beech forests (F77, F80, F85), species-rich beech forests (F113), thermophilous oak and pine-oak forests (G1), alder carrs (T1), alluvial and moist forests (U9, U24).
Land use, substitute communities
forestry (substitute communities, plantations of economic tree-species, scrub)
Forest stands have usually been converted to pine (plantations), locally underlain with beech or lime; False acacia stands.
grassland (meadows, pastures, herb-rich communities)
Dwarf shrub heaths and silceous dry grasslands with extensive agricultural use (grazing): Calluna heaths, Polygalo-Nardetum, Cytiso-Antennarietum, Spergulo vernalis-Corynephoretum, Koelerion glaucae. On moist sites productive meadows (Junco-Molinietum, Epilobio-Juncetum effusi) and pastures (Junco-Cynosuretum). On lime-rich windswept sands at the Upper Rhine: steppe grasslands (Allio-Stipetum capillatae), blue-hairgrass grasslands (Jurineo-Koelerietum glaucae) and therophyte vegetation (Bromo-Phleetum arenariae, Salsolo-Corispermetum).
arable land (characteristic weed communities)
Rye and potato fields: amongst the cereals predominantly Aphano-Matricarietum, as well as Teesdalio-Arnoseridetum minimae, Papaveretum argemones, amongst the root crops poorer forms of the Echinochloo-Setarietum; in overfertilised fields near to villages Setario-Galinsogetum parviflorae.
settlements (typical ruderal vegetation)
No details
Site conditions of the mapping unit
Landscape type, geomorphology
Mostly early pleistocene periglacial lowland, locally hills; valley margins with inland dunes
Altitudinal belt and/or altitudinal range
lowland-colline; up to 250 m, locally up to submontane heights (as high as 500 m)
Geology (bedrock)
Eolian and terrace sands; outwash of the Saale and Weichsel ice-age; ground and end moraines of the Weichsel ice-age and of the Warthe and Drenthe stage within the Saale ice age; fluviatile sediments (Pleistocene; Pleistocene above Tertiary); sandstone (Cretaceous, Jurassic, Triassic)
soil type, also the depth of fine textured earth (soil), stone content; (international nomenclature)
base-poor acidic brown soils, ranker, podzoles, gley-podzoles, pseudogleys, partly with raw humus covers; (dystric cambisols; dystric podzoluvisols; arenosols; leptic, orthic and gleyic podzols; planosols)
soil texture
course to weakly loamy sand
soil moisture, water balance
dry to fresh, locally periodically moist
soil reaction
strongly to weakly acidic
soil fertility
oligotrophic, meso-oligotrophic
Climate incl. local climate
climate type (following Walter & Lieth)
VI6a, VI7c, VI8c
average annual temperature
7-9 EC
average annual precipitation
500-900 mm
average temperature of the warmest month
16-19 EC
average temperature of the coldest month
-3 to +2 EC
local climate or other climatic peculiarities
No details
Importance for nature protection
Present state and development trend of natural vegetation (degree of endangerment)
Semi-natural remnants very rare and not safeguarded; endangered. For central and southeast Brandenburg it is the dominant natural forest community, in Poland potentially about 3-4 % of the country’s surface.
endangered communities, species worthy of protection in natural vegetation
All natural forest communities within the complex; Elymus arenosus as an endemic species on eolian sand between Ingelheim and Mainz (Upper Rhine).
causes of endangerment
Clearing and thinning of forests for agricultural use, transformation of semi-natural forests into (pine) plantations; clear felling with total upheaval; eutrophication.
required measures for protection and restitution
Protection of all semi-natural remnants, regeneration by natural succession, establishment of strictly protected nature reserves for studying natural dynamics. Protection should be given priority over exploitation.
Localities of representative stands (loci typici) with state of protection
of the natural vegetation
Germany: Dürnbucher Forst naer Siegenburg, Haidforst north of Gröbern, Großensterzer Wald (Bavaria), nature reserve “Teufelssee” (Frankfurt/O), nature park Niederlausitz, dunes in the biosphere reserve “Spreewald” (Brandenburg); Poland: Przem“t (52E01' N, 16E18' E), Sprottau (Lower Silesian heath), Katzenberge (Lower Silesia).
of characteristic substitute communities worthy of protection
Germany: nature reserve “Mainzer Sand” (Rhineland-Palatinate), nature reserve “Griesheimer Düne” (Hessen).
Most important references (author, year)
Fabiszewski & Faliński 1967; Grosser 1956; Grosser 1960; Grosser 1964; Hartmann 1934; Härdtle, Heinken, Pallas & Welss 1997; Korneck 1974; Matuszkiewicz 1988; Passarge 1957; Passarge 1962; Scamoni 1961; Scamoni (Hrsg.) 1964; Seibert 1968
Compiled by
U. Bohn; H. Schlüter; W. Matuszkiewicz; completed by J. Pallas, revised by U. Bohn
