Kazakh upland steppe

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

The Al-Hajar foothill xeric woodlands and shrublands wrap around the lower flanks of Arabia's Hajar Mountains, spanning Oman and the United Arab Emirates from Jalan Bani Buhassan in southern Oman north to Khasab and the area south of the Musandam peninsula. Below the cooler montane belt, this is a hot, hyper-arid country of rocky slopes and gravel plains, where Acacia tortilis is the dominant tree and the Al Saleel area holds one of the largest tracts of Acacia in Arabia. Wadis that hold a little more moisture support ghaf, wild almond, Wonderboom fig, and Christ's thorn jujube. Despite the harsh conditions the ecoregion carries a high proportion of rare and endemic species and remains a stronghold for the Arabian tahr, its flagship animal, alongside Arabian gazelle, caracal, and Blanford's fox. For gardeners in similar dry climates, its drought-hardy natives such as Acacia and jujube point to plants suited to heat and scarce rainfall.

The Al-Hajar montane woodlands and shrublands cover the highest reaches of the Hajar Mountains in eastern Arabia, spanning portions of northern Oman and the United Arab Emirates above roughly 1,200 metres, including the summit area around Jebel Shams. Vegetation shifts with elevation: olive and Sideroxylon (Monotheca) woodlands occupy the lower montane belt, while open woodlands of Zeravschan juniper (Juniperus seravschanica) characterize the high peaks, often mixed with wild olive and watered by acacias and figs along seasonal watercourses. Despite being wetter than the surrounding foothills, it remains a mountain desert with low annual rainfall, hot summers, and cool winters that bring occasional rain, hail, and snow to the highest ground. The juniper woodlands are a botanical stronghold, holding a large share of Oman's total flora along with a number of endemic plant taxa, and the range shelters the endemic Arabian tahr (Arabitragus jayakari) plus several endemic lizards; overgrazing by goats and camels and climate-driven juniper decline are leading conservation concerns. For gardeners, the native flora here illustrates how junipers and olives can anchor a drought-tolerant, cold-snap-resilient mountain planting.

The Alai–Western Tian Shan steppe stretches across the lowland and loess plains at the western foot of the Tien Shan and Alay mountains in Central Asia, spanning parts of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan. It belongs to the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome, where ephemeroid herb and grass vegetation dominates alongside coniferous Juniperus woodlands and relict fruit and nut forests; characteristic steppe plants include bulbous meadow-grass (Poa bulbosa), sedges (Carex), wormwoods (Artemisia), and wild ryes (Elymus). The climate is sharply continental, with hot, dry summers, mild winters, a wide annual temperature swing, and only modest precipitation. The region is botanically rich, with more than 2,000 recorded plant species, and it serves as a recognized centre of crop diversity holding important wild relatives of cultivated plants; the critically endangered Saiga antelope is its flagship animal. For gardeners, the area's native junipers and its wealth of wild fruit and nut relatives reflect a flora long tied to cultivation.

The Altai steppe and semi-desert spans parts of Kazakhstan, China, and Russia, forming a transition zone between the conifer forests of the Altai Mountains and the drier Kazakh plains, with the upper Irtysh River and the Tarbagatay Mountains as landmarks. Grasslands dominate, characterized by fescue and feather-grass (Stipa) along with hardy shrubs, while poplar and willow line the watercourses. The climate is sharply continental, with short warm summers and long, cold, dry winters (a humid continental, warm-summer Dfb type). The region's dry grasslands support birds of prey, including endangered steppe eagles, saker falcons, and eastern imperial eagles, alongside the demoiselle crane and mammals such as Altai marmots and the elusive Pallas's cat. Much of the ecoregion remains lightly developed and used mainly for livestock grazing, though overgrazing and agricultural pressure are the main threats, with formal protection still limited.

The Central Anatolian steppe occupies the lowest reaches of Turkey's Central Anatolian plain, spanning several distinct lowland areas centered on Lake Tuz and extending across the Konya and Karapınar Plains. Its defining habitat is salt steppe, where halophytic (salt-tolerant) low shrubs and herbaceous plants dominate, including the sea lavender Limonium anatolicum alongside goosefoot relatives such as Salsola crassa and the salt-tolerant Frankenia hirsuta, while freshwater margins support reeds and nutsedges. The climate is continental and semi-arid, with cold winters, hot, dry summers, and annual precipitation generally between 400 and 500 mm, dropping toward 300 mm in rain-shadowed areas. Lake Tuz, Anatolia's largest salt lake, anchors a network of saline wetlands that shelter waterbirds such as greater flamingos, marbled teal, and white-headed ducks, alongside the great bustard and the ecoregion's flagship mammal, Williams's jerboa. Conservation is a pressing concern, as the steppe carries very little formally protected land and faces overgrazing, agricultural conversion, and water over-extraction.

The Daurian Forest Steppe is a transboundary mosaic of grassland, shrub terrain, and mixed forest spanning northeastern Mongolia, southern Siberia in Russia, and northeastern China, following the courses of the Onon and Ulz rivers across the Palearctic realm. North-facing mountain slopes carry forests of Siberian larch (Larix sibirica) intermixed with Asian black birch (Betula dahurica), Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris), and aspen groves, while the open country forms grass- and sedge-dominated steppe between enclosed basins holding freshwater and slightly saline lakes. The climate is a dry-winter subarctic type (Koppen Dwc) grading into a very cold semi-arid climate in the southwest, with cold winters, warm summers, and precipitation concentrated in the May-to-September growing season. The region is celebrated for its birdlife: it is one of the few places where six crane species, including the white-naped and demoiselle cranes, can be seen together, and its grasslands still support large herds of Mongolian gazelle. Much of the area lies within the UNESCO-listed Landscapes of Dauria and protected zones such as the Daursky and Mongol Daguur biosphere reserves, though overall protection remains limited and grazing, road-building, and hunting pose ongoing pressures.