Lightly managed hay meadows and pastures on both basicline and acidocline, nutrient-rich permanently or temporarily humid soils of middle European lowlands, hills and low mountains under Atlantic or sub-Atlantic climatic conditions, from the British Isles and northwestern Iberia east to the Baltic States, the western Carpathians and Illyrian region. Among the characteristic plant components of the highly diverse communities forming this unit are Caltha palustris, Cirsium palustre, Cirsium rivulare, Cirsium oleraceum, Carduus personata, Telekia speciosa, Epilobium parviflorum, Lychnis flos-cuculi, Mentha aquatica, Scirpus sylvaticus, Stachys palustris, Bromus racemosus, Crepis paludosa, Fritillaria meleagris, Geum rivale, Polygonum bistorta, Senecio aquaticus, Trollius europaeus, Lotus uliginosus, Trifolium dubium, Equisetum palustre, Equisetum telmateia, Myosotis palustris, Deschampsia cespitosa, Angelica sylvestris, Oenanthe silaifolia, Gratiola officinalis, Inula salicina, Succisella inflexa, Dactylorhiza majalis, Ranunculus acris, Rumex acetosa, Holcus lanatus, Alopecurus pratensis, Festuca pratensis, Festuca gigantea, Juncus effusus, Juncus filiformis and Carex cespitosa.
Humid and wet meadows of sub-Atlantic Europe dominated by or rich in Juncus filiformis, or, in Iceland, Juncus balticus (Juncus arcticus), often accompanied by Carex nigra, Carex echinata, Molinia caerulea, Potentilla erecta, mostly developed on lime-poor soils, of strong boreal affinities, most characteristic of Fennoscandia, Iceland, the northern Germano-Baltic plain and the neighbouring Hercynian ranges, rare farther south, limited to small surfaces in cold-pocket areas of the greater Hercynian ranges and the pre-Alps.