This association occurs on serpentine outcrops in warm and dry areas, where serpentine soils have neutral to slightly basic reaction due to low cation leaching. It is characterized by the occurrence of southern European fern Notholaena marantae, which reaches its northern distribution limit in central Europe. This vegetation type also includes the serpentine specialist fern Asplenium cuneifolium and several thermophilous species spreading from adjacent dry grasslands. In the Czech Republic this vegetation type is only found in the middle Jihlava river valley near the village of Mohelno in south-western Moravia.