F137: Pre-Pyrenean calciphilous beech forests (Fagus sylvatica), partly with Abies alba, locally with Quercus pubescens, Quercus petraea, with Buxus sempervirens, Digitalis lutea, Cephalanthera damasonium

Title

Pre-Pyrenean calciphilous beech forests (Fagus sylvatica), partly with Abies alba, locally with Quercus pubescens, Quercus petraea, with Buxus sempervirens, Digitalis lutea, Cephalanthera damasonium

Geographical distribution

Scientific names of main plant communities and their most common synonyms (with author citation)

Buxo sempervirentis-Fagetum sylvaticae Braun-Blanquet ex Br.-Bl. et Susplugas 1937 (incl. Helleboro-Fagetum Bolòs (1948) 1957).

Structural feature of the main community(ies) (layers, life-forms, etc.)

Low-growing beech forest, rarely with fir. The species-rich shrub layer is well-developed and contains groups of Buxus sempervirens. The well-developed herb layer is species-rich.

Dominant and most frequent species in different layers

Diagnostically important species

Fagus sylvatica, Acer opalus; Buxus sempervirens, Hippocrepis emerus; Campanula persicifolia, French beech forests in the northeast with Helleborus viridis, Daphne laureola subsp. philippi

Ecological variants

Altitudinal forms, edaphic differentiation.

Geographical variants (geogr. differential species)

fagetosum sylvaticae: typical subassociation in the Pyrenees; luzuletosum niveae: on humus carbonate soils and luvisols in the pre-Pyrenees with Luzula lactea; primuletosum acaule: northern stands in southern Catalonia with Primula acaulis; carcietosum digitatae: on moderately base-rich soils of the low mountain ranges of Cardeua and Ripall without Buxus sempervirens, but with Carex digitata; geranietosum nodosi: east-Pyrenean uplands with numerous shade-tolerant hygro- and mesophilous species such as Geranium nodosum, Melittis melissophyllum and Pulmonaria affinis; lathyretosum verni: middle Pyrenees and pre-Pyrenees on deeper soils with a mull humus deposit with Lathyrus vernus; g) saxifragetosum hirsutae: in the western Pyrenees on dry, sun-exposed, steeply inclined slopes with Saxifraga hirsuta.

Natural accompanying vegetation (most important units in complex with the name giving mapping unit, scientific names)

Berberidion vulgaris.

Adjoining climax and permanent vegetation (with numbers of mapping units)

open Pinus uncinata woodlands (C23), mixed oak-ash forests (F33), species-poor beech forests (F81), species-rich beech- and fir-beech forests (F138), (mixed) downy oak forests (G38, G41), Quercus faginea forests (G72), Quercus ilex subsp. rotundifolia-forests (J12), pine forests (K4, K5), alluvial forests (U8).

Land use, substitute communities

Site conditions of the mapping unit

Importance for nature protection

Localities of representative stands (loci typici) with state of protection

Most important references (author, year)

Braun-Blanquet & Susplugas 1937; Carreras, Carrillo, Font, Ninot, Soriano & Vigo Bonada 1995; Folch I Guillèn 1981; Loidi Arregui, Biurrun Galarraga & Herrera Gallastegui 1997; Loidi Arregui, Díaz González & Herrera Gallastegui 1997; Peinado Lorca & Rivas-Martínez (Ed.) 1987; Rivas-Martínez 1987; Rivas-Martínez, Bascones, Díaz González, Fernández-González & Loidi Arregui 1991a; Rivas-Martínez, Bascones, Díaz González, Fernández-González & Loidi Arregui 1991b

Compiled by

A. Noirfalise; A. Penas Merino and L. Herrero Cembranos; J. Loidi