Shrub communities of Western Europe and western and northern Central Europe east to Poland, northern Moldavia, Slovakia and Austria, developed on the usually calcareous, dry soils with warm exposure characteristic of the Quercion pubescenti-petraeae and of xeric, calciphilous forms of the Carpinion, with, among others, Prunus spinosa, Ligustrum vulgare, Viburnum lantana, Cornus mas, Rhamnus catharticus.