The alliance Deschampsion cespitosae includes meadows of broad floodplains which are regularly flooded in spring. Due to natural fertilization by floods, these meadows are highly productive and therefore they were usually mown three times a year in the past. After retreat of spring floods, water table usually decreases to far below ground, especially in dry lowlands, and the soils become dry in late summer. These meadows are distributed across temperate Europe, but they contain more species of continental distribution adapted to summer drought towards the eastern regions.