Elm-dominated woodlands forming, on eutrophic soils, at the outer, drier, edge of the Mediterranean riparian or lacustrine galleries, constituted by Ulmus minor or, in the eastern Mediterranean and on the Maltese Islands, Ulmus canescens. Populus alba and Fraxinus angustifolia often participate in the tree-layer; Arum italicum, Ranunculus ficaria, Acanthus mollis, Brachypodium sylvaticum, Elymus caninus, Rubus ulmifolius are characteristic of the undergrowth. Dense and dark in natural form, these woods have been extremely reduced and degraded by human action. The most characteristic examples to remain are probably those of the Iberian peninsula, although fragments are still recorded in France, Italy, the Maltese Islands, Greece, Asia Minor and North Africa.