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 grasslands of sub-Atlantic Europe submitted to a mixed regime of haycutting and grazing, in particular, single early-summer cutting followed by later prolonged grazing, occupied by a mixture of species of mesophile pastures, notably Cynosurus cristatus, Lolium perenne, Trifolium repens, and Molinietalia species resistant to changes in the exploitation regime, such as Juncus effusus, Juncus inflexus, Lychnis flos-cuculi, Cirsium palustre. These grasslands constitute transitions between mesophile grasslands of unit E2 and humid grasslands of E3.41, particularly of unit E3.414; they are also closely related to formations of unit E3.417.