This association includes stands dominated by the tall, spiny thistle species Onopordum acanthium and Carduus acanthoides. It occurs in sunny anthropogenic habitats on dry soils, mainly in villages and their surroundings, e.g. in waste places, along roads and at the edges of agricultural fields. It is an ancient community with a high proportion of archaeophytes. It occurs in warm lowland and colline areas of the Czech Republic, but has been in decline due to the modernization of villages.