Title
Subatlantic-Central European sessile oak-hornbeam forests (Carpinus betulus, Quercus petraea), partly with Fagus sylvatica, mostly with Galium sylvaticum, partly Scilla bifolia, in the southwest with Ornithogalum pyrenaicum
Geographical distribution
Country/territory
France: Upper Rhine (Alsace), Jura-foreland, Champagne, Lorraine; Belgium: Fagnes; Germany: Grabfeld, Steigerwald-foreland, lower Bavarian Donau-plain, foreland of the Alps; Austria: Donau-lowland in the foreland of the Alps
area frequency
28 polygons.
Scientific names of main plant communities and their most common synonyms (with author citation)
Galio-Carpinetum Oberdorfer 1957; Pulmonario-Carpinetum Sougnez 1967.
Structural feature of the main community(ies) (layers, life-forms, etc.)
Mixed forests on more or less intermittently moist soils that tend to become dry in the summer. Moderately tall cathedral forests with a minor shrub undergrowth and a species-rich, closed herb layer. The moss layer is sparsely developed.
Dominant and most frequent species in different layers
Tree layer
Carpinus betulus, Quercus petraea, Quercus robur, Tilia cordata (locally dominating) and locally Fagus sylvatica stem-wise admixed, Fraxinus excelsior, Acer pseudoplatanus, Acer campestre, Prunus avium, Sorbus torminalis
Shrub layer
sparsely Corylus avellana, Crataegus laevigata, Crataegus monogyna, Daphne mezereum, Lonicera xylosteum, Cornus sanguinea, Rosa canina, Rosa arvensis, Ligustrum vulgare, Viburnum lantana, Euonymus europaea
Herb layer
indicators of moisture: Deschampsia cespitosa, less Athyrium filix-femina, Ranunculus ficaria, Aegopodium podagraria, Stachys sylvatica, Crepis paludosa, Circaea lutetiana, Festuca gigantea; indicators of dryness: Galium sylvaticum, Convallaria majalis, Carex montana; eu- to mesotraphent species of the mixed broad-leaved forest: Stellaria holostea, Viola reichenbachiana, Milium effusum, Poa nemoralis, Carex sylvatica, Lamium galeobdolon, Primula elatior, Dactylis polygama, Anemone nemorosa, Galium odoratum, Dryopteris filix-mas, Brachypodium sylvaticum, Sanicula europaea, Ranunculus auricomus, Campanula trachelium, Carex umbrosa, Potentilla sterilis, Polygonatum multiflorum, Pulmonaria obscura, Vinca minor, Euphorbia amygdaloides, Scrophularia nodosa, Epilobium montanum, Phyteuma spicatum, Ranunculus lanuginosus, Ranunculus nemorosus; indicators of acidity (with focus on the poor wing): Poa chaixii, Luzula luzuloides, Hieracium murorum, Deschampsia flexuosa, Lonicera periclymenum, Calamagrostis arundinacea, Festuca heterophylla, Melica nutans
Moss layer (incl. lichens)
Atrichum undulatum, Eurhynchium striatum, Eurhynchium praelongum, Plagiomnium undulatum, Rhytidiadelphus triquetrus
Diagnostically important species
Quercus petraea, Carpinus betulus, Tilia cordata, Sorbus torminalis; Corylus avellana; Galium sylvaticum, Carex montana, Festuca heterophylla, Campanula trachelium, Stellaria holostea, Carex umbrosa, Pulmonaria obscura
Ecological variants
- eutrophic forms: Ranunculus auricomus, Arum maculatum, Adoxa moschatellina, Ornithogalum pyrenaicum, Mercurialis perennis, Asarum europaeum ("aretosum"); Allium ursinum, Anemone ranunculoides, Corydalis cava, C. solida ("allietosum", "corydaletosum");- mesotrophic form: Poa chaixii, Luzula pilosa, Carex umbrosa, Oxalis acetosella, Lathyrus linifolius, Lonicera periclymenum;moist rich form: Deschampsia cespitosa, Circaea lutetiana, Cardamine pratensis, Stachys sylvatica, Filipendula ulmaria, Crepis paludosa ("filipenduletosum");- moist poor form: Molinia caerulea, Carex brizoides, Frangula alnus, Populus tremula, Betula pubescens.
Geographical variants (geogr. differential species)
Southwestern strain with Ornithogalum pyrenaicum, Vinca minor; eastern strain with Lathyrus vernus, Asarum europaeum, Lilium martagon, Hepatica nobilis; eastern subcontinental strain without beech and with Melica picta, Potentilla alba, Viola mirabilis.
Natural accompanying vegetation (most important units in complex with the name giving mapping unit, scientific names)
Natural adjacent communities removed from the water are beech forests (Asperulo-, Lathyro-, Carici-, Luzulo-Fagetum). On more regularly waterlogged sites the Stellario-Carpinetum lies adjacently, while alder forests of the Alno-Padion (Stellario-Alnetum, Pruno-Fraxinetum, Carici remotae-Fraxinetum) neighbour on wet sites.
Adjoining climax and permanent vegetation (with numbers of mapping units)
acidophilous oak forests (F5, F18, F19), mixed oak-hornbeam forests (F34, F35, F36, F47, F51, F53, F57), species-poor beech forests (F76, F83, F85), species-rich beech forests (F107, F110, F111, F113, F115, F120, F129), downy oak forests (G39), alder carr forests (T1), alluvial and moist forests (U8, U9, U24, U27).
Land use, substitute communities
forestry (substitute communities, plantations of economic tree-species, scrub)
Low and middle forests, spruce, pine, oak and mixed coniferous-deciduous plantations.
grassland (meadows, pastures, herb-rich communities)
False-oatgrass and yellow oat-grass meadows (Dauco-Arrhenatheretum, Alchmillo-Arrhenatheretum, Poo-Trisetetum), white clover pastures (Lolio-Cynosuretum), Calthion moist meadows (e.g. Cirsium oleraceum-Polygoneum bistorta community).
arable land (characteristic weed communities)
Cereal and root crop fields (rye, wheat, alfalfa, rape, fodder and sugar beet, corn), fruit and vegetable cultivation (Euphorbio-Melandrietum); Aphano-Matricarietum, Galeopsio-Aphanetum, Caucalido-Adonitetum, Thlaspio-Veronicetum politae; viniculture (Geranio-Allietum).
settlements (typical ruderal vegetation)
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Site conditions of the mapping unit
Landscape type, geomorphology
Hilly country and plains as well as basins with a drier-warm climate
Altitudinal belt and/or altitudinal range
(lowland) colline-submontane; 100-550 m
Geology (bedrock)
eolian (Pleistocene above Tertiary) and fluviatile sediments; fluvioglacial chad, bluff formation (Pleistocene); molasse (Tertiary); sands, clays (Lower Cretaceous - Champagne); chalky clay, clays, clay slate (Lias, Malm); limestone (Dogger); variegated sandstone (Trias)
soil type, also the depth of fine textured earth (soil), stone content; (international nomenclature)
pseudogleys, pelosols, pseudogley-brown soils and parabrown soils, pseudgleyed colluvia alternating with humidification and dessication, so that shrinkage cracks arise; (orthic and gleyic luvisols; eutric and gleyic cambisols)
soil texture
sandy-loamy to clayey, often stony
soil moisture, water balance
periodically moist to dry
soil reaction
acidic to neutral
soil fertility
mesotrophic-eutrophic
Climate incl. local climate
climate type (following Walter & Lieth)
VI3b, VI3c, VI4, VI7c, VI8b, VI8c, VI9b
average annual temperature
8-9,5 EC
average annual precipitation
550-900 mm
average temperature of the warmest month
18-20 EC
average temperature of the coldest month
-2 to 2 EC
local climate or other climatic peculiarities
Dry-warm climate region, spring-moist and more or less sommer-dry.
Importance for nature protection
Present state and development trend of natural vegetation (degree of endangerment)
Only small, endangered remnants are present in the dominating agricultural landscape.
endangered communities, species worthy of protection in natural vegetation
All formations; Lilium martagon, Leucojum vernum.
causes of endangerment
Clearings, low and middle forest use, isolation and ruderalisation in the agricultural landscape, conifer cultivation.
required measures for protection and restitution
Establishment of nature reserves and natural forest reservations, planting of protective forest mantles, restrictions on land usage.
Localities of representative stands (loci typici) with state of protection
of the natural vegetation
France: surroundings of Nancy, Upper Rhine near Mühlhausen; Germany: Grabfeld, Schweinfurter Becken; Austria: western upper Austrian foreland of the Alps.
of characteristic substitute communities worthy of protection
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Most important references (author, year)
Bugnon, Rameau, Royer & Brunaud 1985; Jacamon & Timbal 1976; Knapp 1944; Mayer 1974; Müller Th. 1967; Oberdorfer 1957; Seibert 1968; Sougnez 1967b; Strobl 1986; Timbal 1978; Wallnöfer, Mucina & Grass 1993
Compiled by
A. Noirfalise; U. Bohn; H. Wagner, completed by K. Zukrigl
