Beech woods of the chalk plateau are the climax of a development through grassland, scrub, ash, and oak. The bryophyte and lichen flora is poor and changes somewhat in this succession. Lists are given for the various communities. The list varies from the ground in copses to the ground under beech trees, and from the bases of the trees to the higher parts of the trees. Beech woods on oolite are poor in epiphytic bryophytes. Beech woods on podsol are more acid and again show changes. Here Leucobryum appears. On the whole the bryophytes and lichens overlap a good deal. There seem to be greater differences between arboreal and terrestrial habitat than between the terrestrial habitats in the various beech or near-beech woods.