Title
West Central European Luzula luzuloides-beech forests (Fagus sylvatica) without Abies alba
Geographical distribution
Country/territory
Belgium: Ardennes; Germany: highlands in the Rheinisches Schiefergebirge, Vogelsberg, Rhön, Thuringian forest, Harz, Pfälzer Wald, Odenwald, Swabian Alps
area frequency
21 polygons .
Scientific names of main plant communities and their most common synonyms (with author citation)
Luzulo-Fagetum Meusel 1937, high altitude form (syn.: Luzulo-Fagetum montanum Schlüter 1939), Galio hercynici-Fagetum Stöcker 1964.
Structural feature of the main community(ies) (layers, life-forms, etc.)
Closed beech cathedral forests with a one-staged tree layer, a hardly developed shrub layer (apart from beech upgrowths), a very interspersed herb layer (hemicryptophytes, partly chamaephytes), and a patchy moss layer.
Dominant and most frequent species in different layers
Tree layer
Fagus sylvatica predominating, stem-wise interspersed Acer pseudoplatanus
Shrub layer
Young growth of trees, Rubus idaeus, Sambucus racemosa, Sorbus aucuparia
Herb layer
Luzula luzuloides, Deschampsia flexuosa, Carex pilulifera, Oxalis acetosella, Dryopteris dilatata, Dryopteris carthusiana, Athyrium filix-femina, Calamagrostis arundinacea, Galium saxatile, Vaccinium myrtillus; montane species: Polygonatum verticillatum, Senecio ovatus; in rich formations: Milium effusum, Anemone nemorosa, Lamium montanum
Moss layer (incl. lichens)
Polytrichum formosum, Dicranella heteromalla, Mnium hornum, Dicranum scoparium
Diagnostically important species
Fagus sylvatica, Acer pseudoplatanus; Sambucus racemosa; Luzula luzuloides, Galium saxatile, Dryopteris dilatata, Calamagrostis arundinacea; differential species of the high altitude form: Polygonatum verticillatum
Ecological variants
Fern-rich (Athyrium filix-femina, Dryopteris dilatata), wet (Deschampsia cespitosa) and rich (Milium effusum) forms.
Geographical variants (geogr. differential species)
- western, subatlantic vicariant with Digitalis purpurea;- vicariant with Poa chaixii (Swabian Alps, Swabian-Franconian forest);- vicariant with Luzula sylvatica (Harz).
Natural accompanying vegetation (most important units in complex with the name giving mapping unit, scientific names)
Cardamine-beech forest (Dentario bulbiferae-Fagetum), wet sycamore-ash forest (Adoxo-Aceretum), mixed tufted hairgrass-sycamore forest (Deschampsio cespitosae-Aceretum).
Adjoining climax and permanent vegetation (with numbers of mapping units)
species-poor beech forests (F83, F85), spruce-fir-beech forests (F97), species-rich beech forests (F110, F128), raised bogs (S10).
Land use, substitute communities
forestry (substitute communities, plantations of economic tree-species, scrub)
Dicranum spp., Dryopteris dilatata and Oxalis acetosella spruce forest, occasionally with pines, larch, beech; low forest and heaths have been afforested with spruces for economic purposes.
grassland (meadows, pastures, herb-rich communities)
Species deficient matgrass communities, sometimes Calluna-rich (Violion); lady’s mantle-red fescue shortgrass meadows, red fescue- bentgrass-shortgrass meadows (Polygono-Trisetion); Belgium: High Venn: pasturing in a Bocage landscape with high beech hedges.
arable land (characteristic weed communities)
Galeopsio-Aphanetum, Scleranthus annuus and typical subassociation; Holco-Galeopsietum; Lapsana-Chenopodium album community, Scleranthus annuus and typical variant,
settlements (typical ruderal vegetation)
Chenopodium bonus-henricus communities.
Site conditions of the mapping unit
Landscape type, geomorphology
Mountainous areas
Altitudinal belt and/or altitudinal range
montane-altimontane; 500-900 m
Geology (bedrock)
sand and clay stone, quarzit, grauwacke, clay and gravel slate, rarely phonolithe, basalt with bluff formation cover (Devonian, Permian, Carboniferous, Tertiary)
soil type, also the depth of fine textured earth (soil), stone content; (international nomenclature)
acidic, base-poor brown soils, partly podzolized; base-poor parabrown soils, loose brown soils, (locally podzole ranker, podzole); (dystric cambisols; dystric luvisols; dystric leptosols; podzols)
soil texture
sandy-loamy to silty, often grouany-stony
soil moisture, water balance
fresh, locally stagnating moist
soil reaction
strongly to moderately acidic
soil fertility
oligotrophic, oligo-mesotrophic
Climate incl. local climate
climate type (following Walter & Lieth)
VI2, VI(X)a, VI7c, VI9d
average annual temperature
4,5-7,0 EC
average annual precipitation
650-1450 mm
average temperature of the warmest month
12-16 EC
average temperature of the coldest month
-3,5 to 3 EC
local climate or other climatic peculiarities
Raw snow-rich winters, frequent summer mists.
Importance for nature protection
Present state and development trend of natural vegetation (degree of endangerment)
Semi-natural stands are only relatively rarely preserved.
endangered communities, species worthy of protection in natural vegetation
All natural formations.
causes of endangerment
Cutting and clearing of forests; transformation of semi-natural forests into coniferous plantations; modification of sites (soil acidification, eutrophication, "novel” types of forest damage) by eutrophication and pollution.
required measures for protection and restitution
Preservation of semi-natural stands by a number of types of protective measures is necessary.
Localities of representative stands (loci typici) with state of protection
of the natural vegetation
Belgium: the unit is known by the spacious beech forests of St. Hubert and Anlier; Germany: primeval forest reserve Stöberhai (Lower Saxony), nature reserve "Tännichen" and nature reserve "Radeweg" (Saxony-Anhalt), Taufstein and Lattenbruch (Vogelsberg), Bermershube (Westerwald, Hessen), primeval forest reserve Hütterbusch, primeval forest reserve Grauhain, Schiefe Wand, primeval forest reserve Hunau (North Rhine-Westphalia), nature reserve "Wartburg-Hohe Sonne", nature reserve "Großer Inselsberg", northwestern part of the nature park "Thuringian Wald" (Thuringia).
of characteristic substitute communities worthy of protection
Germany: nature reserve Neuer Hagen (North Rhine-Westphalia), nature reserve "Haselniederung" with Nardetum, Trisetetum, Trollius-Polygonum bistorta-community, Carici-Agrostetum, Crepidi-Juncetum (Saxony-Anhalt).
Most important references (author, year)
Bohn 1996; Grüneberg & Schlüter 1957; Marstaller 1980; Meusel 1954; Noirfalise 1984; Noirfalise & Vanesse 1956; Schlüter 1959a; Stöcker 1964
Compiled by
A. Noirfalise; U. Bohn; H. Schlüter
