Perennial grasslands, often nutrient-poor and species-rich, on calcareous and other basic soils of the nemoral and steppe zones and of adjacent parts of the subboreal and submediterranean zones. Includes the calcareous grasslands of central and western Europe, alvar grasslands of the Baltic region, and basic grasslands of the steppe zone. Vegetation communities of Festuco-Brometea.
Closed, dry perennial grasslands of eutrophic soils within the meso- and thermo-Mediterranean zones of the western Mediterranean basin, often on post-cultural land, formed by relatively tall grasses and usually dominated by Brachypodium phoenicoides, with, among many others, Phleum bertolonii (Phleum nodosum, Phleum pratense), Elymus repens, Carex divisa, Carthamus lanatus, Diplotaxis viminea, Echinops ritro, Euphorbia serrata, Echium vulgare, Echium pustulatum, Erodium acaule, Galactites tomentosa, Lepidium graminifolium, Medicago orbicularis, Salvia verbenaca, Foeniculum vulgare, Pallenis spinosa, Psoralea bituminosa, Seseli tortuosum, Tragopogon australis, Scabiosa atropurpurea, Verbascum sinuatum, Picris hieracioides, Calamintha nepeta, Centaurea aspera, Vicia hybrida, Phlomis herba-venti and many orchids.