Forests of Betula pubescens or Betula carpatica on peaty, humid and very acid soils, colonizing bogs of reduced peat building activity and acid fens of the boreal, sub-boreal and nemoral zones, very locally of the wooded steppe and steppe zones, with Molinia caerulea, Vaccinium spp., Empetrum nigrum, Trientalis europaea, Eriophorum vaginatum and many sphagna e.g. Sphagnum fallax, Sphagnum magellanicum, mosses and liverworts.