Meadows of moist, sometimes seasonally flooded, nutrient-rich soils on floodplains and in brook-valleys throughout the lowland to submontane belts of Europe. Traditionally cut for hay, though sometimes also lightly grazed in late summer and autumn, the vegetation is often species-rich with a diverse associated invertebrate fauna attracted by the abundance of flowers. Often once part of wider agricultural landscapes with associated pastures, good examples of the habitat now often survive more fragmentarily, and transitions to improved silage grassland on flood-protected land are widespread.