The alliance Carpinion betuli includes mesic forests dominated or codominated by hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) and oaks (Quercus petraea agg. and Q. robur). The herb layer is characterized by the predominance of nemoral species, specifically slightly thermophilous, shade-tolerant plants of mesic forests. This alliance is distributed in the temperate zone of Europe from Great Britain and France to Ukraine. Oak-hornbeam forests are better adapted to habitats with summer drought and late frost than beech forests, and are accordingly more common in the continental lowlands and foothill areas of east-central Europe. In central Europe, Carpinus betulus was the last species to colonize in the Holocene migration of forest trees and the extension of its range was probably facilitated by human impact on forests. Most current forests of Carpinion betuli are former coppices that have been transformed into tall forests in the second half of the 20th century.