The lowest level of the supralittoral, just above the normal tide limit, where drift material accumulates and the shingle may be rich in nitrogenous organic matter. Vegetation, if present at all, is very open and composed of annuals or, particularly by the Mediterranean, especially the east Mediterranean, of annuals and perennials, occupying accumulations of drift material and gravels rich in nitrogenous organic matter; characteristic are Cakile maritima, Salsola kali, Atriplex spp., Polygonum spp., Euphorbia peplis, Mertensia maritima, and, particularly in Mediterranean formations, Glaucium flavum, Matthiola sinuata, Matthiola tricuspidata, Euphorbia paralias, Eryngium maritimum.
Formations, predominantly of annuals, occupying accumulations of drift material and gravels rich in nitrogenous organic matter on nemoral and boreonemoral beaches of the Atlantic, the North Sea and the Baltic; characteristic are Cakile maritima ssp. maritima, Cakile maritima ssp. baltica, Salsola kali, Atriplex spp. (particularly Atriplex glabriuscula), Polygonum spp., Euphorbia peplis, Mertensia maritima, Glaucium flavum.