In the Braun-Blanquet approach to phytosociology, totalfloristic composition with an emphasis on critical character taxa is used as a criterion to classify vegetation into a hierarchical system. However, several associations lacking true association character taxa have been recognized. This feature seems to be particularly common in phytochoric tension zones. Several cases are discussed from which it becomes apparent that, with the ecological meaning of a character taxon in mind, those vegetation types justifiably should be regarded as associations in the hierarchical classification system of the Braun-Blanquet