Title
South Central European Luzula luzuloides-sessile oak and mixed oak forests (Quercus petraea, Quercus robur, partly Pinus sylvestris) with Melampyrum pratense, Hieracium sabaudum, Hieracium umbellatum, Genista tinctoria, Genista germanica, Calamagrostis arundinacea, partly alternating with Luzula luzuloides-beech forest (Fagus sylvatica)t = with Abies alba
Geographical distribution
Country/territory
Germany: northern Harz foreland, Frankenhöhe (with fir), Bayerischer Wald; Poland: foreland of the Riesengebirge and Eulengebirge, Silesian-Krakow hights, outliers of the Beskids; Austria: Wachau; Czech Republic: mainly distributed in the western part of the country: Elstergebirge (with fir), Bohemia (partly with fir), Drahanská vrchovina
area covered
F20: 1500 km², F20t: 13610 km²
area frequency
F20: 19 polygons, F20t: 10 polygons.
Scientific names of main plant communities and their most common synonyms (with author citation)
Luzulo luzuloides-Quercetum Hilitzer 1932 (syn.: Quercetum medioeuropaeum Braun-Blanquet 1932 p.p.; pseudonym: Genisto tinctoriae-Quercetum petraeae sensu auct. bohem. et slov. non Klika 1932 (typo excluso); Abieti-Quercetum Mráz 1959 (after Moravecs 1998 revision of the Quercion for the Czech Republic)).
Structural feature of the main community(ies) (layers, life-forms, etc.)
The unit features a broad habitat amplitude. Two to four-layered, weakly to well-growing species-deficient forests, with dominating oak (Quercus petraea on dry, Quercus robur on severely and intermittently-moist soils) in the tree layer, locally with Pinus sylvestris, in areas with Abies alba (Abieti-Quercetum). The shrub layer is often absent or developed only moderately, and oak upgrowths prevail within it. The herb layer consists mostly of acidophilous species, is sparse to closed, and in areas features the occasional more demanding species of the Querco-Fagetea; grasses and dwarf shrubs are frequent. The moss layer is weakly to well developed and dominated by acidophilous mosses. Within this unit there would presumably be a higher proportion of acidophilous beech forests in nature.
Dominant and most frequent species in different layers
Tree layer
Quercus petraea, locally Quercus robur, Pinus sylvestris, regionally Abies alba, more rarely Sorbus aucuparia, Populus tremula, Betula pendula
Shrub layer
species of the tree-layer, scattered Frangula alnus, locally Crataegus spp., Corylus avellana, Rosa canina
Herb layer
Luzula luzuloides, Deschampsia flexuosa, Vaccinium myrtillus, Calluna vulgaris, Solidago virgaurea, Melampyrum pratense, Pteridium aquilinum, Festuca ovina agg., Hieracium lachenalii, Hieracium umbellatum, Hieracium laevigatum, Hieracium murorum, Hieracium sabaudum, Hieracium pilosella, Sedum telephium, Poa nemoralis, Convallaria majalis, Campanula rotundifolia; xerotherme Ausbildungen mit Calamagrostis arundinacea, Campanula persicifolia, Digitalis grandiflora, Silene viscaria, Silene nutans, Polygonatum odoratum, Anthericum liliago, Anthericum ramosum, Genista germanica, Sedum rupestre, Vincetoxicum hirundinaria, Genista tinctoria, Cytisus nigricans, Tanacetum corymbosum
Moss layer (incl. lichens)
Dicranum scoparium, Polytrichum formosum, Hypnum cupressiforme, Pohlia nutans, Pleurozium schreberi, Leucobryum glaucum, Cladonia spp., Polytrichum piliferum, Thuidium tamariscinum
Diagnostically important species
Quercus petraea, Quercus robur, gebietsweise Abies alba; Luzula luzuloides, Deschampsia flexuosa, Calamagrostis arundinacea, Hieracium laevigatum, Hieracium sabaudum, Hieracium lachenalii, Genista germanica, Genista tinctoria, Cytisus nigricans
Ecological variants
On shallow-soiled steep slopes there are xerothermic forms, and at flat locations there are sometimes intermittently-moist forms with Molinia caerulea agg., Pteridium aquilinum. Quercus robur replaces Quercus petraea particularly on moister sites. The Abieti-Quercetum occurs on pseudogley brown earths and pseudogleys in moister and cooler areas of Bohemia, and it is usually dominated by Quercus robur (Quercus petraea) with admixtures of Abies alba (represented on the map as unit F20t). The species-deficient herb layer also features Galium rotundifolium, Luzula pilosa, Epipactis helleborine, Senecio ovatus, and Epilobium montanum.
Geographical variants (geogr. differential species)
In the lower Austrian forest region mainly with Pinus sylvestris.
Natural accompanying vegetation (most important units in complex with the name giving mapping unit, scientific names)
Oak-hornbeam forests (Querco-Carpinetum s.l.), stream alluvial forests (Stellario nemori-Alnetum glutinosae); Molinio arundinaceae-Quercetum Neuhaeusl & Neuhaeuslová 1967; relict pine forests (on rocks); in Poland intermittently moist submontane oak forests, often changing over small areas. Regionally (Bohemia, Sudetes) alternating with Luzulo-Fagetum (F85), and Dentario-Fagetum in small areas (F119, F134).
Adjoining climax and permanent vegetation (with numbers of mapping units)
fir and mixed fir forests (D24, D26), pine-oak forests (F19), pedunculate oak-hornbeam forests (F42a, F42b), sessile oak-hornbeam forests (F51, F55, F56, F57, F58), species-poor beech and fir-beech forests (F85, F86, F96), species-rich beech and fir-beech forests (F110, F115, F119, F120, F125, F135), alluvial forests (U9), alder-ash forests (U24, U26).
Land use, substitute communities
forestry (substitute communities, plantations of economic tree-species, scrub)
Pine and spruce forestry, sometimes plantations of American oaks (Quercus rubra) and other habitat or habitat-foreign types of tree; bramble-elderberry scrub (Rubo-Sambucetum racemosi).
grassland (meadows, pastures, herb-rich communities)
Siliceous short-grass meadows, Calluna heaths, extensive pastures (short-grass meadows of the Trifolio-Festucetum rubrae Oberdorfer 1957, Festuca ovina grassland with acidophilous species). On intermittently moist sites Molinietalia meadows (Sanguisorbo-Festucetum rubrae Balátová-Tuláčková 1965).
arable land (characteristic weed communities)
Cereals, potatoes, (Aperetalia weed communities), in cereal fields poorer forms of the Aphano-Matricarietum, in root crop fields above all Echinochloo-Setarietum.
settlements (typical ruderal vegetation)
No specific ruderal vegetation.
Site conditions of the mapping unit
Landscape type, geomorphology
Plains, submontane plateaus and steep slopes (mostly of a southern and western exposure) in hilly landscapes.
Altitudinal belt and/or altitudinal range
colline-submontane; 250-400 (600) m; occurrences on higher altitudes only in the rainshadow of secondary mountains (Bohemian Forest-foothills)
Geology (bedrock)
base-poor siliceous rocks (Permian, Devonian); flysch-sandstone (Cretaceous); Pleistocene sediments; sometimes also deep decalcified bluff formation
soil type, also the depth of fine textured earth (soil), stone content; (international nomenclature)
podzolized brown soils; base-poor ranker, occasionally weakly podzolized; base-poor pseudogley-brown soils and pseudogley on loess loam; (dystric cambisols; orthic and gleyic luvisols; dystric leptosols)
soil texture
gravely and sandy to sandy-loamy soils; silty fine sand
soil moisture, water balance
fresh to moderately dry, partly periodically moist
soil reaction
strongly to moderately acidic
soil fertility
oligotrophic to oligo-mesotrophic
Climate incl. local climate
climate type (following Walter & Lieth)
VI(VII)1, VI(VII)2, VI8c, VI9b
average annual temperature
7-9,5 EC
average annual precipitation
550-1000 mm
average temperature of the warmest month
17-21 EC
average temperature of the coldest month
-2 to -1 EC
local climate or other climatic peculiarities
Locally hollows and plateaus endangered of late frosts.
Importance for nature protection
Present state and development trend of natural vegetation (degree of endangerment)
Only a few semi-natural stands usually preserved in small areas and mostly on extreme sites (most frequently in the foothills of the Sudetes mountains); greatly endangered.
endangered communities, species worthy of protection in natural vegetation
Especially worthy of protection are relict pine forests and remnants of the nearly-natural oak and fir-oak forests occuring within the complex; creeping types of Pinus sylvestris near Dürnstein, Lower Austria.
causes of endangerment
Transformation into spruce or pine forestry.
required measures for protection and restitution
Because of the lack of species and only sporadic occurrence of species that are worthy of protection, no protective measures have been initiated until now. For the maintenance of genetic resources and the specific forest ecological system, semi-natural forest remnants demand strict protection. Oak should be cultivated; well preserved stands should be established as natural forest reservations.
Localities of representative stands (loci typici) with state of protection
of the natural vegetation
Czech Republic: landscape reserve KÍivoklátsko (Central Bohemia), further very scattered in the colline altitude of the Bohemian Massive; Poland: representative remnant stands in the submontane altitude of the Warta- and Eulengebirge, as well as in the foreland of the Katzengebirge in Lower Silesian. Austria: Dürnstein (Wachau, Lower Austria; primeval forest reserve), Wienerwald (small-scaled); Germany: nature reserve Bodetal in the Harz, slopes along the Donau near Regensburg and Passau.
of characteristic substitute communities worthy of protection
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Most important references (author, year)
Hilitzer 1932; Jovanović 1979a; Jovanović 1979b; Knapp 1944; Matuszkiewicz 1988; Mayer 1974; Mikyška et al. 1968–1972; Mráz 1959; Neuhäusl & Neuhäuslová-Novotná 1967; Neuhäusl & Neuhäuslová-Novotná 1979; Neuhäuslová et al. 1998; Zimmermann 1987
Compiled by
R. Neuhäusl; Z. Neuhäuslová; W. Matuszkiewicz; combinated by J.R. Cross, completed by J. Pallas, U. Bohn
