In vegetation science, the continuum/community controversy is an internationally discussed topic among ecologists. An introductory description of the evolution of different vegetation schools briefly highlights some important concepts to describe vegetation. In order to answer to the question whether vegetation can be described in terms of continua or in terms of communities, I analyzed an ancient data set of 258 forest relevés from the Jura Mountains (Switzerland). The relevé data were retrieved from a large vegetation data base that gathers most of the Swiss forest relevé data of Switzerland. I used Correspondence Analysis (CA) and means of Landolt indicator values to analyze and describe the floristic data. Continuous and discrete characteristics of the data are discussed with respect to the applicability in science and practice. Landscape diversity is considered to influence, to some extent, the development of different vegetation schools. Relationships between formerly defined vegetation types or communities can be tested with ordination techniques.