Title
Pre-Carpathian(-north Pannonian) beech forests (Fagus sylvatica) with Carex pilosa, Cephalanthera longifolia, Melittis melissophyllum
Geographical distribution
Country/territory
Czech Republic: Moravia; Slovakia: Lower Carpathians, Slovakian Erzgebirge and other ridges of hills at the southwestern escarpment of the Carpathians; Austria: eastern flysch-Wienerwald, Bucklige Welt (Lower Austria); Hungary: northern half of the country (especially north of the Balaton); Ukraine: outliers of the trans-Carpathian region
area frequency
35 polygons .
Scientific names of main plant communities and their most common synonyms (with author citation)
Carici pilosae-Fagetum Oberdorfer 1957 (incl. Dentario bulbiferae-Fagetum Zlatník 1935, Melico-Fagetum (Knapp 1942) Oberdorfer 1957, Festuco drymejae-Fagetum Magic 1978). syn.: Dentario bulbiferae-Fagetum caricetosum pilosae Neuhäuslová 1970, Fagetum asperulo caeruleum praefatricum Mikyška 1939; Hungary: Melittio-Fagetum Soó 1964 em. 1971 (Melittio-Fagetum subcarpaticum Soó 1962), Daphno laureolae-Fagetum (Isépy 1970) Borhidi in Borhidi & Kevey 1996 (Melittio-Fagetum hungaricum Soó 1962, Laureolae-Fagetum Soó 1971).
Structural feature of the main community(ies) (layers, life-forms, etc.)
Two- to three-layered beech forests with small additions of oaks, hornbeam and ash. Shrub layer weakly developed (almost exclusively beech rejuvenation). The herb layer in dense stands is poorly developed (10-25 % degree of coverage), but better so in more open stands, herb-rich, and sometimes dominated by Carex pilosa. The moss layer is insignificant.
Dominant and most frequent species in different layers
Tree layer
Fagus sylvatica dominating, stem-wise admixed Quercus petraea, Quercus robur, Carpinus betulus, Acer platanoides, Acer pseudoplatanus, Acer campestre, Tilia cordata, Prunus avium, Ulmus glabra, locally Abies alba (moister and cooler sites)
Shrub layer
Sambucus nigra, Euonymus europaea, Lonicera xylosteum, Daphne mezereum; Corylus avellana, Crataegus laevigata, Cornus sanguinea, locally (Hungary) Staphylea pinnata, Cornus mas, Rubus hirtus
Herb layer
Carex pilosa, Galium odoratum, Cardamine bulbifera, Lathyrus vernus, Mercurialis perennis, Euphorbia amygdaloides, Poa nemoralis, Melica uniflora, Veronica montana, Carex digitata, Epipactis purpurata, Pulmonaria officinalis, Asarum europaeum, Campanula trachelium, Hepatica nobilis, Hordelymus europaeus, Viola reichenbachiana, Sanicula europaea, Actaea spicata, Brachypodium sylvaticum, Lamium galeobdolon, Corydalis cava, Allium ursinum, regionally: Prenanthes purpurea, Festuca drymeja, Aposeris foetida, Galium schultesii, Melittis melissophyllum subsp. carpatica, Symphytum tuberosum, Cardamine enneaphyllos, Glechoma hirsuta
Moss layer (incl. lichens)
Hypnum cupressiforme (at stem feet)
Diagnostically important species
Fagus sylvatica; Rubus hirtus, Cornus mas; Carex pilosa, Melittis melissophyllum, Cardamine bulbifera, Galium odoratum, Melica uniflora, Euphorbia amygdaloides, Symphytum tuberosum
Ecological variants
Austria: warmer forms with oak, cooler forms with fir (receding); different moisture, geophyte-rich and acidic-soil (Luzula luzuloides) forms.
Geographical variants (geogr. differential species)
Slovakia: Festuca drymeja beech forests on vulcanites of the Slovakian Erzgebirge and on flysch sandstones of eastern Slovakia (upper course of the Ondava and the Laborec where there is also Aposeris foetida, Symphytum cordatum, Helleborus purpurascens). In northwestern Slovakia with Hacquetia epipactis; Hungary: Carpathian-north Hungarian variant with Helleborus purpurascens, Hesperis matronalis, Scilla buekkensis; west Pannonian variant with Helleborus dumetorum, Daphne laureola, Cardamine enneaphyllos, Isopyrum thalictroides, Scilla vindobonensis; Ukraine: at lower altitudes with Quercus robur, Cornus mas, Staphylea pinnata, Helleborus purpurascens; at higher altitudes with Aposeris foetida, Salvia glutinosa, Prenanthes purpurea, Adenostyles alliariae.
Natural accompanying vegetation (most important units in complex with the name giving mapping unit, scientific names)
Slovakia: Carici pilosae-Carpinetum, Dentario glandulosae-Fagetum, Symphyto cordati-Fagetum; Austria: Luzulo-Fagetum, Carici remotae-Fraxinetum; Hungary: Mercuriali-Tilietum, Scolopendrio-Fraxinetum, Aconito-Fagetum.
Adjoining climax and permanent vegetation (with numbers of mapping units)
fir- and mixed fir forests (D27), acidophilous oak forests (F20, F22), mixed oak-hornbeam forests (F43, F50, F57, F58, F59), species-poor beech and mixed beech forests (F85, F87, F96), species-rich beech and mixed beech forests (F115, F118, F125, F133, F134, F135), thermophilous pedunculate oak and (mixed) sessile oak forests (G1, G2), sessile oak-bitter oak forests (G16), mixed flowering ash-downy oak forests (G46), alluvial and moist forests (U9, U16, U27).
Land use, substitute communities
forestry (substitute communities, plantations of economic tree-species, scrub)
spruce forestry, mixed forestry with larch, pine forestry.
grassland (meadows, pastures, herb-rich communities)
Meadows and pastures: Arrhenatherion elatioris, Cynosurion, Anthoxantho-Agrostietum tenuis; on dry limestone sites Mesobromion.
arable land (characteristic weed communities)
Crop field use (potatoes, cereal; corn and tobacco fields), locally orchards and vineyards.
settlements (typical ruderal vegetation)
No details
Site conditions of the mapping unit
Landscape type, geomorphology
Uplands, hills, mountain ridges and slopes
Altitudinal belt and/or altitudinal range
colline-submontane (montane); (150) 300-700 (900) m
Geology (bedrock)
eolian sediments (Pleistocene); volcanites, tuffs, flysch (Tertiary), limestone, dolomite (Cretaceous, Triassic), slate, granites, gneiss, phyllits (Palaeozoic)
soil type, also the depth of fine textured earth (soil), stone content; (international nomenclature)
brown soils, parabrown soils, partly pseudogleyed; (eutric cambisols; orthic and gleyic luvisols)
soil texture
sandy to clayey loam
soil moisture, water balance
fresh, locally periodically moist, partly moderately dry
soil reaction
weakly acidic to neutral
soil fertility
meso- to eutrophic
Climate incl. local climate
climate type (following Walter & Lieth)
VI4a, VI(VII)1, VI9b, VI(X)b, VII1a
average annual temperature
6-9 EC
average annual precipitation
650-900 mm
average temperature of the warmest month
16-18,5 EC
average temperature of the coldest month
January -6 to -1,5 EC
local climate or other climatic peculiarities
---
Importance for nature protection
Present state and development trend of natural vegetation (degree of endangerment)
High proportion of semi-natural forests.
endangered communities, species worthy of protection in natural vegetation
Species worthy of protection: Slovakia: Epipactis purpurata, Hacquetia epipactis, Helleborus purpurascens, Symphytum cordatum, Lilium martagon; Hungary: Epipogium aphyllum, Scilla buekkensis, Hesperis matronalis subsp. candida; Ukraine: Lycopodium annotinum, Lilium martagon, Staphylea pinnata, Crocus banaticus.
causes of endangerment
Forestry, pressure from settlements.
required measures for protection and restitution
Forest reservation programme, nature reserves.
Localities of representative stands (loci typici) with state of protection
of the natural vegetation
Austria: flysch-Wienerwald (several primeval forest reserves); Slovakia: Ondavská vrchovina, Pohronský Inovec; Hungary: nature reserves in the Bükk and in the Ipoly-Börzsöny National park, forest reserve in the Pilis-mountains; Ukraine: near the cities of Irschany, Chusta, Tiatschewa and Buschtina.
of characteristic substitute communities worthy of protection
Hungary: orchid rich mountain meadows in the Bükk and Zempléner mountains.
Most important references (author, year)
Borhidi 1996; Fekete 1966; Jelem & Mader 1969; Mayer 1974; Michalko, Magic, Berta, Rybníček & Rybníčková 1986(1987); Povarnicyn (Red.) 1954; Soó 1962; Zlatník 1959
Compiled by
K. Zukrigl; Z. Neuhäuslová based on documents by J. Michalko and Ju.R. Šeljag-Sosonko; A. Borhidi; completed by Š. Maglocký
