Primary cushion heaths of the high, dry mountains of the Mediterranean region and Anatolia, with low, cushion-forming, often spiny shrubs, in particular of genera Acantholimon, Astragalus, Erinacea, Vella, Bupleurum, Ptilotrichum, Genista, Echinospartum, Anthyllis, and various composites and labiates; secondary, zoogenic cushion heaths of the same regions, either downslope extensions of the high-altitude formations, and dominated by the same species, or specifically montane or steppic, often Genista-dominated in the Mediterranean region. Excluded are cushion-heaths of thermo-Mediterranean lowlands (F7.1, F7.2 and F7.3).