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
Xero-thermophile Fagus sylvatica forests developed on calcareous, often superficial, soils, usually of steep slopes, of the medio-European and Atlantic domaines of Western Europe and of central and northern Central Europe (also present in Greece), with a generally abundant herb and shrub undergrowth, characterised by sedges (Carex spp.), grasses (Sesleria albicans, Brachypodium pinnatum), orchids (Cephalanthera spp., Neottia nidus-avis, Epipactis spp.) of alliance Cephalanthero-Fagenion and thermophile species, transgressive of the Quercetalia pubescenti-petraeae. The bush-layer includes several calcicolous species (Ligustrum vulgare, Berberis vulgaris) and Buxus sempervirens can dominate.