Beech woods occupying dry limestone slopes and areas of low precipitation of sub-Atlantic Western Europe, south and west to the Charentes and Normandy, of the Jura, the northwestern, northern, eastern and southern pre-Alps, of the Hercynian arc and neighbouring regions and of the western Carpathian hills, with an often rich shrub layer constituted by Sorbus aria, Ligustrum vulgare, Viburnum lantana, Rosa arvensis, Lonicera xylosteum, Daphne mezereum, Berberis vulgaris, Acer campestre, Buxus sempervirens, and an herb layer rich in sedges, Carex digitata, Carex flacca, Carex montana, Carex alba, grasses, Brachypodium sylvaticum, Bromus benekenii, orchids, Neottia nidus-avis, Cephalanthera rubra, Cephalanthera damasonium, Epipactis spp. The unit is composed of many highly distinctive and conservation-significant local variants.