Caucasus mixed forests

A part-shade planting with shrub structure and low foliage contrast.

The Apennine deciduous montane forests occupy the higher elevations of the Apennine Mountains running down the spine of the Italian peninsula, surviving as disconnected patches that stretch southward for over 350 kilometers through central Italy. The dominant cover is montane broadleaf forest led by European beech (Fagus sylvatica), often mixed with silver fir (Abies alba), deciduous oaks (Quercus), maples (Acer), whitebeams and rowans (Sorbus), with cold meadows and grasslands taking over above the treeline. The climate is temperate-cool and notably wet, with rainfall ranging from roughly 1,000 mm in the southern mountains to 2,500 mm in the north and abundant winter snow at altitude. The ecoregion is the last stronghold of the critically endangered Marsican brown bear and the endemic Apennine (Abruzzo) chamois, and a 2017 assessment found about 46 percent of its area falls within protected reserves such as Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park. For gardeners, several ornamental woody genera native here, including holly (Ilex aquifolium), yew (Taxus baccata) and linden (Tilia), are familiar temperate landscape plants.

The Azores temperate mixed forests cover the Azores archipelago, an autonomous region of Portugal whose nine principal volcanic islands lie roughly 1,350 to 1,500 km west of the Portuguese mainland. Lowland areas retain little natural vegetation, but above about 500 meters elevation enclaves of evergreen shrub forest persist, characterized by trees such as Laurus azorica, Juniperus brevifolia, Picconia azorica, and Erica azorica. The Gulf Stream gives the islands a mild maritime climate for their latitude, with summer averages near 21 degrees C and winter averages around 14.5 degrees C, and frost does not occur below 500 meters. The ecoregion is home to the endemic Azores bullfinch and the endemic Azores noctule bat; native laurel and juniper forests have been heavily displaced by introduced poplar, oak, and chestnut and by aggressive invasives. Gardeners may recognize native ornamentals from here, including the Azores blueberry (Vaccinium cylindraceum) and Azorean holly (Ilex perado subsp. azorica).

The Balkan mixed forests stretch across southeastern Europe, spanning Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, and Turkey, reaching from the Black Sea toward the Adriatic. Deciduous oaks dominate most of the ecoregion's lower forests, most prominently Hungarian oak (Quercus frainetto) along with Turkey oak (Quercus cerris) and downy oak (Quercus pubescens), giving way above roughly 800 to 1,200 meters to European beech and conifers such as black pine, Scots pine, Bosnian pine, Macedonian pine, silver fir, and Norway spruce. The climate ranges from humid subtropical to humid warm-summer continental with wet winters, and a few high-rainfall pockets have been considered temperate rainforest relicts. The region is exceptionally rich and conservation-critical, hosting the greatest concentration of threatened mammal species in Europe, with the saker falcon as its flagship; the Shar Mountain area alone holds over 2,000 plant species, around 400 of them endemic to the Balkans.

The Baltic mixed forests stretch along the western and southern shores of the Baltic Sea, spanning northeastern Germany, northwestern Poland, eastern Denmark, and the southernmost tip of Sweden. Despite the name, the ecoregion does not reach the Baltic states; its woodlands are dominated by European beech (Fagus sylvatica), mixed with oak, ash, maple, linden, elm, hazel, rowan, and birch, alongside planted Norway spruce, forming beech, oak-beech, and pine-oak forest communities. The climate is mild and maritime, with mean annual temperatures roughly 7-13 degrees Celsius, gentle winters, and summers whose hottest months rarely exceed 20 degrees Celsius. The region supports around 340 bird species and serves as habitat for the aquatic warbler, described as the rarest passerine in mainland Europe, while mammals such as European otter, roe deer, red deer, wild boar, and wolf persist; the ecoregion is classified as Critical/Endangered. For gardeners, several native trees here, including silver birch, Norway maple, English oak, and European hornbeam, are familiar temperate ornamentals.

The Cantabrian mixed forests stretch across southwestern Europe, running along the coastal Cantabrian Mountains and Galician Massif of northern Spain, south into northern Portugal, and northward through the westernmost Pyrenees into southwestern France. Oak and beech woodlands predominate, with lowlands of English oak (Quercus robur), sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa), and European ash (Fraxinus excelsior) giving way to upland forests of sessile and Pyrenean oak (Quercus petraea and Quercus pyrenaica) and European beech (Fagus sylvatica), interspersed with montane heaths. The climate is mild and humid Atlantic, transitional between the Mediterranean and oceanic zones, with cold, snowy winters and more Mediterranean conditions in Galicia. This is the far-southwestern stronghold of the brown bear and shelters the critically endangered European mink, the rare Pyrenean desman, and the Cantabrian capercaillie, with Picos de Europa National Park alone hosting many orchid species. Gardeners may recognize natives such as sweet chestnut and the heathers of its montane heathlands.

The Caspian Hyrcanian mixed forests form an 800-kilometer belt nestled between the Caspian Sea and the Elburz Mountains, lying mostly in northern Iran with portions reaching the Lenkoran lowlands and Talysh Mountains of southeastern Azerbaijan. These are temperate broadleaf and mixed deciduous forests, with Oriental beech the dominant species and characteristic trees including chestnut-leaved oak, European hornbeam, Persian ironwood, the Persian silk tree, and relict genera such as Caucasian zelkova and wingnut. The climate is humid and semi-subtropical at lower elevations, grading to oceanic and humid continental conditions in the mountains, and the high humidity drives exceptional forest productivity. The forests are an ancient Pleistocene refuge often called the "mother of European forests" because many plants dispersed across the continent from here after the glaciations; they were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2019 (expanded into Azerbaijan in 2023) and shelter wildlife such as the flagship Persian leopard, brown bear, and wolf. Several of their native trees, including the Persian silk tree and Persian ironwood, are familiar to gardeners as ornamentals.