Riparian forests of base-rich soils submitted to seasonal, prolonged inundation with slow drainage, physiognomically dominated by tall Populus alba and/or P. nigra. Fraxinus angustifolia and Salix alba habitually accompany the poplars and may locally be quantitatively strongly dominant; such areas may, depending on their size, be treated as a local manifestation of a complex poplar ensemble, or listed under 44.63 or 44.141. The poplar forests are usually the tall ligneous vegetation belt closest to the water in riverside catenas.
Riparian gallery forests lining water courses and other water bodies of Provence and Languedoc, in particular the rivers of the Mediterranean periphery of the Pyrenees, the Languedocian rivers draining the Causses and the southern Central Massif, the Rhône and Durance systems, especially the Camargue, the Verdon, the Var, with Populus alba, P. nigra, Ulmus minor, Fraxinus angustifolia (locally accompanied by F. excelsior), Acer negundo, A. campestre, A. platanoides, Celtis australis, Quercus pubescens, Alnus glutinosa, and an undergrowth with Cornus sanguinea, Rubus caesius, Sambucus nigra, Vitis vinifera ssp. sylvestris, Bryonia cretica, Humulus lupulus, Rubia peregrina, Solanum dulcamara, Alliaria petiolata, Cucubalus baccifer, Saponaria officinalis, Iris foetidissima, Arum italicum, Brachypodium sylvaticum, Carex pendula; Celtis australis may form facies locally (e.g. Estérel).