Australian Alps montane grasslands

The Australian Alps montane grasslands occupy the highest reaches of the Great Dividing Range in southeast Australia, spanning the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, and Victoria, and form the only ecoregion on the continent with true alpine ecosystems. Above the snow gum treeline of Eucalyptus pauciflora and black sallee (E. stellulata) lies a mosaic of Poa snow-grass tussock grasslands, alpine herbfields, heath, and sphagnum bogs, dotted with shrubs such as Grevillea, Prostanthera, Orites, and Hovea and the mountain plum-pine (Podocarpus lawrencei), the only alpine conifer on the Australian mainland. The climate is harsh and alpine, with prolonged winter snow cover, cold windy winters, and a pronounced winter dry spell, and the massif captures a large share of the continent's rainfall. It shelters cold-adapted endemics including the mountain pygmy possum (Burramys parvus), which hibernates under the snow, and the black-and-yellow corroboree frog (Pseudophryne corroboree), and most of the range now lies within large contiguous national parks such as Kosciuszko, Namadgi, and Alpine, though feral horses and deer, fire, and a warming climate threaten its specialised flora and fauna. Several genera native here, notably Grevillea and the mint bushes (Prostanthera), are familiar to gardeners as cold-hardy ornamentals.

Finished planting recipes where every member can handle this region's climate range. The fit badge uses the collection's most sensitive plant, so a resilient collection is a safer starting point than any single standout.

Generated from catalog plants that already pass this region's climate fit gate, with native matches sorted first when the catalog has enough coverage.

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The countries, US states, and Canadian provinces this ecoregion touches, from a spatial join of its RESOLVE polygon against Natural Earth boundaries.