Forests dominated by beech Fagus sylvatica in western and central Europe, and Fagus orientalis and other Fagus species in southeastern Europe and the Pontic region. Many montane formations are mixed beech-fir or beech-fir-spruce forests, which are listed under G4.6
Fagus sylvatica woods usually composed of low, low-branching trees, with much sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus), situated near the tree limit, mostly in low mountains with oceanic climate of Western Europe and of central and northern Central Europe, in particular the Vosges, Black Forest, Rhön, Jura, outer Alps, Central Massif, Pyrenees, the mountains of the Bohemian Quadrangle, and, very locally, the Carpathians. The herb layer is similar to that of the forests of unit G1.63 or locally of unit G1.61 and contains elements of the adjacent open grasslands