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Montane Grasslands & Shrublands

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Yarlung Zanbo arid steppe

Biome

Montane Grasslands & Shrublands

Biogeographic realm

Palearctic

Sandbars and rows of planted poplar along the braided Yarlung Tsangpo below bare eroded ridges, Shannan, Tibet.

Region photo - Gerd Eichmann / Wikimedia Commons - CC BY-SA 4.0; attribution required.

Yarlung Zanbo arid steppe

The Yarlung Zanbo (Yarlung Tsangpo) arid steppe follows the Yarlung Tsangpo River valley across the southern edge of Tibet in China, with a portion reaching into Bhutan, running parallel to the northern borders of Nepal, Bhutan and India between the Himalayas to the south and the Tibetan Plateau to the north. Its potential vegetation is steppe grassland with scattered shrubs and forbs, featuring shrub genera such as Sophora, Leptodermis and Ceratostigma along with abundant Artemisia, while higher slopes carry feather grasses of the genus Stipa alongside shrubby cinquefoil (Potentilla fruticosa) in the east and the spiny legume Caragana in the west. The climate is dry and continental, with mean annual temperatures of roughly 4 to 8 degrees Celsius, annual precipitation of about 200 to 500 millimetres concentrated in summer, and warming foehn winds that descend the north slope of the Himalaya. The ecoregion is a principal wintering ground for the black-necked crane, its flagship species, with about two-thirds of the global population overwintering in the Yarlung Zanbo valley, and it also supports wild ungulates including argali, Tibetan gazelle and blue sheep. Gardeners may recognize cold-hardy ornamentals native here, including Potentilla fruticosa (shrubby cinquefoil) and honeysuckles of the genus Lonicera.

RESOLVE 770

Palearctic

22,953 sq mi

Montane Grasslands & Shrublands

Landscape type

Montane Grasslands & Shrublands

Plant region

Palearctic

Region footprint

22,953 sq mi

Habitat pressure

Nature Could Recover (Dinerstein NNH 3)

Source & care

Plants that can handle this region

A climate-fit shortlist from Plotwright's catalog. Start with the reliable fits, then use each plant page to check light, water, soil, mature size, and local availability.

Showing 383 of 383 climate-fit plants for this region.

Reliable climate fits

Good bets for now and later

378 plants

These plants fit the region today and stay within range under the mid-century projection. Start here when you want choices with the least climate regret.

Tagetes erecta

African marigold

A tall, bold warm-season annual from Mexico and Guatemala (the "African" name is a misnomer of its European garden history) grown for large, fully double, pompon-like flowerheads in saturated yellow, gold, and orange over strongly aromatic, finely divided foliage. Plants reach 1 to 4 feet and bloom from early summer to frost in full sun. The petals are edible and used as a culinary garnish and natural dye, and the flowers are the iconic "flor de muerto" of Mexican Day of the Dead. Despite the wide listed zone range it is frost-tender and grown for a single warm season.

Annual

Full sun / Part shade

A native eastern + central North American thicket-forming shrub producing arching thorny canes + clusters of large sweet black berries in mid-to-late summer. Among the most important wildlife fruit producers in eastern forests - birds, mammals, + insects all depend on the fruit. Like raspberry, biennial-caned (primocane year 1, fruits in year 2 as floricane, then dies back). Spreads via root suckers + tip-rooting cane tips; manage with annual pruning.

A dense, conical-to-narrow-pyramidal evergreen tree native to eastern and central North America, prized as a screening and foundation conifer. Flat, fan-like sprays of scale-like, aromatic yellow-green foliage clothe the tree from the ground up, and red-brown bark exfoliates on mature trunks. Wild trees can reach 40 to 60 feet but cultivated plants typically stay near 20 to 30 feet; small urn-shaped cones and dense evergreen cover make it valuable food and shelter for birds.

Tree

Full sun / Part sun / Part shade

A medium-to-large native shade tree of central and eastern North America, reaching 50 to 80 feet with an ovate-rounded crown and large, asymmetric heart-shaped leaves. In June it carries pale-yellow, intensely fragrant flowers on pendulous cymes - each cluster hung from a distinctive strap-like leafy bract - that ripen into pea-sized nutlets. The fragrant June bloom is a premier nectar source: Missouri Botanical Garden lists it as attracting bees and butterflies, and the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center flags it as having special value to both native and honey bees.

Tree

Full sun / Part sun / Part shade

A fast, suckering native shrub of streambanks and moist thickets across eastern North America, grown for huge flat-topped cymes of tiny lemon-scented white flowers in early summer and the clusters of dark elderberry drupes that follow. Spreads by root suckers into naturalized colonies 5 to 12 feet tall and wide; the flowers feed butterflies and the showy fruit feeds birds. The raw berries are not eaten fresh - they are cooked into jelly, pie, and wine.

Shrub

Full sun / Part sun / Part shade

The American elm is the great vase-shaped shade tree that once arched over Main Streets and town commons across eastern North America - a fast, extremely cold-hardy deciduous tree of 60 to 80 feet whose upright trunk divides into a fountain of high, spreading limbs that meet overhead to form a living cathedral ceiling. That iconic form, and the species' tolerance of wet soil and tough urban conditions, made it the default American street tree for a century. Then Dutch elm disease (DED) - an introduced fungal disease carried by elm bark beetles - swept through in the 20th century and killed the vast majority of mature street and shade elms across the continent. The honest reality for a gardener today is blunt: do not plant the unselected wild species expecting it to survive. If you want the American-elm form, plant a DED-tolerant cultivar bred and selected for resistance - 'Princeton', 'Valley Forge', 'New Harmony', or 'Jefferson' - and say so plainly. Where it does grow, it is fast, hardy to USDA zone 3, and remarkably forgiving of wet ground and city stress.

Tree

Full sun / Part shade

American germander, also called wood sage, is a widespread North American native perennial in the mint family that runs steadily underground on creeping rhizomes. From early to midsummer it sends up erect, softly hairy stems topped with one-sided spikes of pale pink-to-lavender flowers, each with the distinctive deeply lobed lower lip that gives the germanders their look and makes a generous landing platform for bees. It is a plant of moist open ground - wet meadows, streambanks, ditches, and the edges of thickets - across most of the contiguous United States into southern Canada, which tells you exactly what it wants: sun and a soil that does not dry out. The honest caveat is its vigor: those same rhizomes that fill a bank or a rain garden so readily will also colonize a tidy perennial border and crowd politer neighbors. Site it where it can run, or give it a root barrier, and it rewards you with a long, dependable bee-friendly bloom rather than a maintenance fight.

Perennial

Full sun / Part shade

A rounded, multi-stemmed deciduous shrub native across eastern and central North America, grown for its edible nuts and its season-opening catkins. Showy 2-3 inch yellowish-brown male catkins dangle from bare branches in early spring before the ovate, double-toothed leaves emerge; small egg-shaped edible nuts ripen inside leafy husks by mid- to late summer. Easygoing in average soil and tolerant of clay and black walnut, it suckers into thickets that screen and shelter wildlife.

Shrub

Full sun / Part sun / Part shade

A small-to-medium understory tree of dry, rocky eastern-North-American woods, named for its drooping clusters of papery, sac-like seed pods that resemble the fruit of hops. The birch-like, sharply-serrated leaves turn an undistinguished yellow in fall, and reddish-brown male catkins persist on the bare branches through winter. Also called ironwood for its extremely hard, dense wood; tough, low-maintenance, and drought-tolerant once established.

Tree

Full sun / Part shade

A tough, medium-sized native tree of the eastern and midwestern United States, grown as much for its showy edible orange fruit as for its distinctive thick, dark gray bark broken into rectangular blocks. Small urn-shaped white-to-greenish-yellow flowers open in May and June, and the sweet fruit ripens after frost. Largely dioecious - a female tree needs a male pollinizer nearby to set fruit - and notably drought- and walnut-tolerant once established.

Tree

Full sun / Part sun / Part shade

A small native deciduous tree (or thicket-forming, suckering shrub) of eastern and central North America, grown for clouds of fragrant white 5-petaled flowers that open in March before the leaves and for the edible red plums that follow in early summer. It forms a broad, spreading crown with attractive dark reddish-brown twigs that sometimes carry thorny lateral branchlets. A documented larval host for swallowtails and other butterflies, with flowers of special value to native, bumble, and honey bees.

Tree

Full sun / Part shade

American red raspberry

A native bramble (cane) producing red aromatic edible fruit in summer or fall (depending on summer-bearing vs everbearing cultivar). Self-pollinating; spreads vigorously by root suckers + tip-rooting canes. NC State documents extensive Lepidoptera + small mammal + bird wildlife value alongside the edible fruit role. Site where the spreading habit is welcome - naturalized colonies form in sun-exposed open ground.

Platanus occidentalis

American sycamore

A massive native deciduous canopy tree of eastern North American floodplain forests producing distinctive mottled white-tan-gray exfoliating bark (the design-defining trait - sycamore bark looks like military camouflage), large palmate maple-like leaves, and persistent spherical seed balls. Among the largest deciduous trees in eastern North America - old-growth specimens exceed 150 feet tall + 10 feet trunk diameter. Site only where massive scale is acceptable.

Tree

Full sun / Part shade

Amur maple (Acer ginnala, accepted by Kew's Plants of the World Online as Acer tataricum subsp. ginnala) is a small, fast-growing deciduous tree or large multi-stemmed shrub from northeastern Asia - the Russian Far East, northeastern China, and Korea. At 15 to 20 feet it fits where a full-size maple cannot, and it earns that place with three seasons of interest: fragrant greenish-yellow flowers in spring, which is an unusual scent for a maple and an early nectar source for bees; small glossy three-lobed leaves through summer; and reliable, often brilliant red-to-orange fall color that arrives early. It is also one of the hardiest maples, tolerant of cold, wind, dry soil, and a wide range of pH. The honest catch, and it is a serious one for North American gardeners, is that it self-sows prolifically and has escaped cultivation to become invasive across parts of the US Midwest and Northeast, where its shade-tolerant seedlings crowd native shrubs and understory trees in open woods, savannas, and prairies. Several states list it as invasive or a noxious weed. Check your local invasive-species list before planting, and be prepared to remove seedlings if you do.

Tree

Full sun / Part sun / Part shade

An upright, clump-forming perennial of the mint family native to the upper Midwest, Great Plains, and into central Canada, named for its anise-scented foliage. From June through September it carries dense terminal spikes of lavender-to-purple two-lipped flowers above square stems and opposite, toothed leaves. The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center flags it as a nectar source with special value to native bees, bumble bees, and honey bees, and it also draws butterflies and hummingbirds.

Perennial

Full sun / Part shade

Hydrangea arborescens

Annabelle hydrangea

A native eastern-US deciduous shrub - 'Annabelle' is a sterile-flowered cultivar of smooth hydrangea - with very large white snowball blooms in summer. Blooms on new wood so spring frost cannot destroy the flower display, and serves as the larval host for the hydrangea sphinx moth.

Shrub

Part sun / Part shade

Symphyotrichum oblongifolium

Aromatic aster

A native central + eastern US perennial with intensely aromatic foliage when crushed and dense clouds of small blue-purple flowers in late fall - often the latest-blooming aster in the eastern flora. Drought + clay tolerant; among the toughest native fall pollinator plants.

A native eastern + central North American multi-stemmed deciduous shrub with dentate (toothed) foliage, white spring flower clusters, blue-black drupes, and reliable fall color. Especially valued for wildlife - among the most-cited native shrubs for fall-migration bird forage.

Shrub

Full sun / Part shade

A fast cool-season annual of the mustard family grown for its peppery, mustard-like salad greens - irregular, pinnately-lobed basal leaves in a low rosette, each with 4 to 10 small lateral lobes and a large terminal lobe (Missouri Botanical Garden). First cultivated by the ancient Greeks and Romans and still widely grown across Europe, it is best grown in the cooler spring and fall months rather than summer heat; leaves are harvested young and tender before they turn strong and bitter. Pale-yellow four-petalled flowers with dark brown or purple veins appear in corymbs if plants are left to bloom.

Vegetable

Full sun / Part shade

Lilium (Asiatic hybrid)

Asiatic lily

Asiatic hybrids are the easiest lilies to grow and among the first to bloom - rigid, unbranched 3-4 foot stems carry large, mostly upward- and outward-facing flowers 4 to 6 inches wide in nearly every color but blue, often with dark basal spotting. The flowers are showy and good for cutting but, unlike most other lily groups, usually have little or no fragrance. Every part of the plant is dangerously toxic to cats.

Perennial

Full sun / Part shade

Asparagus officinalis

Asparagus

A long-lived herbaceous perennial vegetable grown for the tender young spears harvested in April and May before they unfurl. Native to Europe and temperate Asia, it grows from a crown that takes 2-3 years to come into production but then yields for fifteen years or more. Spears left uncut grow into airy 3-4 foot summer ferns; the plants are dioecious, and female plants ripen ornamental red berries in late summer.

Aubrieta (Aubrieta deltoidea) is a low, mat-forming evergreen perennial in the mustard family (Brassicaceae), native to the rocky hillsides of southeastern Europe - primarily Greece, the Aegean Islands, Crete, and adjacent Mediterranean coasts. It is one of the most reliable spring-flowering ground covers for sunny, well-drained spots: cascading sheets of violet to deep pink four-petalled blooms from March through May, attractive to bees and bee flies. The honest catch is that without a hard cut-back immediately after flowering, plants become woody and bare in the centre within two or three years, collapsing from a tight carpet into a tired, gappy mat.

Austrian pine (Pinus nigra), also called European black pine, is a dense, dark, 40-to-60-foot conifer from central and southern Europe into western Asia, with stiff dark green needles three to six inches long in bundles of two and bark that darkens to nearly black on mature trunks. For most of the twentieth century it was the default tough conifer of North American landscapes: it takes clay, drought, salt and city air, and Missouri Botanical Garden still lists urban tolerance among its attributes. That reputation is now out of date, and the reason is a disease. Sphaeropsis - Diplodia - tip blight kills the new shoots from the bottom of the tree upward, hollowing out the crown over years, and it is severe enough that Missouri Botanical Garden explicitly no longer recommends planting Austrian pine in the St. Louis area or the wider Midwest. Dothistroma needle blight and pine wilt nematode compound it. It remains a legitimate choice on the drier, cooler, less humid end of its range; specifying it into a humid continental summer is planting a tree with a known ending.

Colchicum autumnale is a corm-forming herbaceous perennial native to lowland grassy meadows across much of Europe, from Portugal and Great Britain east to Ukraine. In autumn it sends up naked goblet-shaped flowers of lilac-pink directly from the bare soil - leaves and seedpods follow in spring and die back by early summer. The honest catch is its extreme toxicity: every part of the plant contains colchicine, a compound lethal to humans and animals, and the broad strap-like spring leaves are routinely mistaken for edible wild garlic - a potentially fatal confusion. Despite the common name, it is not a true crocus (Crocus, Iridaceae) but a member of the Colchicaceae.

Future climate matches

Likely better as winters warm

5 plants

These plants are not the best current fit, but the mid-century projection moves this region toward their comfort range.

Mahonia repens

Creeping mahonia

A low, ground-hugging evergreen shrub of the Rocky Mountain West (also called creeping Oregon grape; NC State files it under the synonym Berberis repens). It spreads by underground stems into a holly-leaved mat 12 to 24 inches tall, with blue-green pinnate compound foliage that flushes bronze-to-purple-red in winter, fragrant yellow flower clusters in spring, and glaucous blue-black grape-like berries in summer. Tough, cold-hardy, and shade- and drought-tolerant once established - among the best evergreen native groundcovers for dry shade.

Shrub

Full sun / Part shade

A dense, upright-to-rounded broadleaf evergreen shrub, 8 to 10 feet tall and 6 to 8 feet wide, grown for year-round structure and its long late-winter-to-spring show of drooping panicles of fragrant, urn-shaped white (sometimes pink) flowers. Glossy dark green leaves are joined each spring by a striking flush of bronze-red to coppery new growth, and the chains of greenish-red flower buds form in fall and hold all winter for a second season of interest. Native to southeastern China, central to southern Japan, and Taiwan, it wants acidic, evenly moist but well-drained soil, shelter from harsh winter wind, and protection from hot afternoon sun in warmer zones. All parts are toxic if eaten.

Shrub

Full sun / Part shade

Cercidiphyllum japonicum

Katsura tree

The katsura tree is a graceful, large deciduous tree native to the mountains of Japan and China, prized for its heart-shaped leaves that turn soft shades of pink, apricot, and yellow in autumn while releasing a distinctive caramel or burnt-sugar scent - one of the most beloved sensory moments in the autumn garden. It is dioecious (separate male and female plants), with inconspicuous flowers in early spring. The honest catch is moisture: katsura is notably drought-intolerant, especially when young - dry spells trigger premature leaf drop, and established trees in exposed or dry soils can lose their foliage weeks before autumn; site near consistent soil moisture and shelter from desiccating winds, or invest heavily in irrigation during the first several seasons.

Paperbark maple is a small, slow-growing deciduous tree native to central China (Hubei, Sichuan, Gansu, and neighboring provinces), where it is now considered Endangered in the wild by the IUCN. In gardens it earns its keep on three fronts: cinnamon-orange bark that peels in papery curls year-round, brilliant scarlet-orange autumn foliage, and a compact scale (20 to 30 feet) that fits suburban lots. The honest catch is propagation scarcity - most seeds are parthenocarpic (empty), so named nursery stock is expensive and sometimes undersized for its price; patience is required both at the nursery counter and in the garden, as it grows at less than 12 inches per year.

Enkianthus campanulatus

Redvein enkianthus

Redvein enkianthus is a deciduous shrub endemic to Japan, valued for a two-season display: pendant clusters of creamy-white, red-veined bell flowers in spring followed by some of the most intense scarlet-to-copper autumn colour of any garden shrub. It holds an RHS Award of Garden Merit and is considered the hardiest of its genus, surviving to around -20°F (zone 4b). The honest catch is non-negotiable soil chemistry: it demands consistently moist, fertile, acid soil (pH 4.5-6.0) and will sulk or die in alkaline or clay ground - no amount of surface treatment permanently corrects a limey site, so confirm soil pH before planting. Note too that, as a member of the heath family, its tissues are best treated as toxic if ingested.

Shrub

Full sun / Part shade

Planting collections

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.

Coral bells (Heuchera 'Marmalade') showing a low mound of ruffled coppery-orange foliage characteristic of the Heuchera villosa-derived hybrids.

Climate-resilient · 2 plants

Bright shade foundation

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

Annabelle hydrangea

Coral bells

Starter kits for this region

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

Sunny pollinator border

A sunny, wildlife-forward planting assembled from plants that pass this region fit gate.

Native fit: 0/6

Climate resilient: 6/6

Wildlife links: 23

Host/specialist links: 6

Forage/pollination links: 24

Shelter links: 4

African marigold - Climate-resilient Allegheny blackberry - Climate-resilient American arborvitae - Climate-resilient American basswood - Climate-resilient American elderberry - Climate-resilient American elm - Climate-resilient

Shade-edge planting

A softer edge kit for woodland margins, porches, and mixed-light garden edges.

Native fit: 0/6

Climate resilient: 6/6

Wildlife links: 23

Host/specialist links: 6

Forage/pollination links: 24

Shelter links: 4

Resilient shrub layer

A woody structure layer led by plants that fit both current and projected regional conditions.

Native fit: 0/6

Climate resilient: 6/6

Wildlife links: 21

Host/specialist links: 6

Forage/pollination links: 21

Shelter links: 4

Allegheny blackberry - Climate-resilient American arborvitae - Climate-resilient American basswood - Climate-resilient American elderberry - Climate-resilient American elm - Climate-resilient American hazelnut - Climate-resilient

Similar planting regions

Browse other regions in the same biome. Their plant lists can suggest species and combinations worth comparing.

Alpine meadow and tundra landscape in Katun Nature Reserve in the Altai Republic, Russia.

RESOLVE 749 - Palearctic

Altai alpine meadow and tundra

The Altai alpine meadow and tundra ecoregion crowns the high Altai Mountains where the borders of Russia, Kazakhstan, China, and Mongolia meet, sitting above the conifer treeline in Central Asia's northernmost ranges. Above the treeline, low-alpine meadows mix grasses such as Stipa feather grass and clumping Festuca with herbaceous wildflowers, dwarf birch (Betula rotundifolia) in wetter northern areas, and sedge-meadows of Kobresia and Carex, giving way to sparse moss, lichen, and creeping cushion plants on the highest plateaus. The climate has a distinctly arctic character, with brief temperate summers, extreme cold winters, and a tundra-like regime where no month averages above 10 degrees Celsius. The ecoregion supports apex predators including snow leopards, lynx, gray wolves, and wolverines, with the vulnerable Altai argali wild sheep serving as a flagship species. Higher slopes also host hardy ornamental and medicinal natives such as dwarf rhododendrons, saxifrage, rhodiola, juniper, and honeysuckle.

Montane Grasslands & Shrublands

RESOLVE 750 - Palearctic

Central Tibetan Plateau alpine steppe

The Central Tibetan Plateau alpine steppe is a vast high-elevation ecoregion stretching across the Tibetan Plateau of China, reaching east to Qinghai Lake and extending into adjacent parts of India, with land ranging from roughly 3,500 meters to nearly 6,000 meters in elevation. Vegetation is sparse, typically covering only about a fifth of the ground, and is dominated by sedges such as Kobresia and Carex together with purple feathergrass (Stipa purpurea), alongside cushion plants and alpine forbs in more stable, moister soils; there are no trees. The climate is cold and arid, classified as a tundra (Köppen ET) regime with no month averaging above 10 degrees Celsius, and precipitation declining from the northwest toward the southeast. Because the harsh conditions are largely unsuited to agriculture, the ecosystem remains relatively intact and still supports roaming herds of wild ungulates, including the migratory Tibetan antelope, argali, Tibetan wild ass, and the endangered Przewalski's gazelle, along with predators such as the snow leopard and gray wolf. For gardeners, several alpine genera native here, including Saussurea, Leontopodium, and Arenaria, are familiar in cold-hardy rock and cushion-plant horticulture.

Montane Grasslands & Shrublands

RESOLVE 751 - Palearctic

Eastern Himalayan alpine shrub and meadows

The Eastern Himalayan alpine shrub and meadows ecoregion threads along the high Himalaya across five countries, reaching eastward from central Nepal near the Kali Gandaki River through Bhutan and India's Arunachal Pradesh to northern Myanmar and Tibetan China. Nested between the treeline near 4,000 meters and the snowline around 5,500 meters, it shifts from low alpine shrublands dominated by stunted, twisted rhododendrons into open meadows that burst with brightly colored flowers each spring and summer. Characteristic meadow genera include Meconopsis, Primula, Gentiana, Saxifraga, Androsace, Leontopodium, and Pedicularis. The climate is sharply seasonal: the May-to-September monsoon delivers heavy rainfall, with much drier rainshadow pockets, summer temperatures averaging about 20 degrees Celsius, and winters dropping below freezing. Renowned for exceptional botanical richness with over 7,000 plant species recorded, it shelters snow leopards, blue sheep, Himalayan tahr, and takin. Many of its native ornamentals, especially the blue poppies (Meconopsis), rhododendrons, and primulas, are treasured by alpine and rock gardeners.

Montane Grasslands & Shrublands

RESOLVE 752 - Palearctic

Ghorat-Hazarajat alpine meadow

The Ghorat-Hazarajat alpine meadow occupies the high mountainous interior of central Afghanistan, fanning out westward from the capital city of Kabul at its eastern point. Its vegetation is a mix of thornbush meadows and alpine grassland, with Himalayan juniper shrub thickets and herbs and flowering plants including sainfoin, Astragalus, Cousinia, and Artemisia, set across elevations that climb from roughly 1,248 to 4,868 metres. The climate is cold and dry with large seasonal swings and warm summers, giving a mean annual temperature of about 3.2 degrees Celsius and average annual precipitation near 416 millimetres. The ecoregion is best known for the critically endangered Afghan brook salamander (Paghman mountain salamander), which clings to cold high-mountain streams within a potential range of less than 10 square kilometres; less than 1 percent of the region is officially protected, with Band-e Amir National Park, famed for its travertine lakes, the main reserve. For gardeners, several cold-hardy native genera that thrive here, including Astragalus and Artemisia, are familiar in dryland and rock-garden plantings.

Montane Grasslands & Shrublands

RESOLVE 753 - Palearctic

Hindu Kush alpine meadow

The Hindu Kush alpine meadow spans the high Hindu Kush range across northern Afghanistan, northwestern Pakistan, and southern Tajikistan, a steep, mountainous landscape whose terrain mostly sits between 3,000 and 4,000 meters and climbs to peaks above 6,500 meters. Roughly half of it is bare rock or gravelly soil with sparse vegetation, while the remainder carries subalpine thickets, cushion shrublands, and alpine meadows of grasses and herbs, including the genera Primula, Sibbaldia, Astragalus, and Onobrychis. The climate is cold and continental with large seasonal swings, much of the high-elevation precipitation falling as snow. Over 200 vertebrate species have been recorded, with the markhor as the flagship species alongside Siberian ibex, argali, and the endangered Kashmir musk deer, yet the ecoregion currently has no protected areas. For gardeners, the native alpine flora here includes cold-hardy ornamental cushion and rock-garden genera such as Primula and Sibbaldia.

Montane Grasslands & Shrublands

RESOLVE 754 - Palearctic

Karakoram-West Tibetan Plateau alpine steppe

The Karakoram-West Tibetan Plateau alpine steppe is a vast high-elevation grassland ecoregion centered on the Karakoram Range west of the Himalaya, spanning portions of Pakistan, India, China, and Afghanistan within the upper Indus catchment. Most of it is open steppe of Stipa and Festuca grasses and forbs on slopes above 3,000 meters, while valley bottoms hold dense thickets of woody plants such as sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides), willow, tamarisk, and wild rose, with relict juniper forests in remote pockets. The climate is cold and arid, with annual precipitation ranging from roughly 200 to 900 millimeters, about 90 percent of it falling as snow, and extreme topographic relief where river channels below 2,000 meters sit beneath massifs exceeding 8,000 meters. Its flagship species is the woolly flying squirrel, and its rich community of wild sheep and goats, including Marco Polo sheep, argali, markhor, urial, and ibex, supports the snow leopard, with protection afforded by parks such as Hemis, Khunjerab, and Deosai. Hardy native ornamentals here include the showy larkspur Delphinium cashmerianum, shrubby cinquefoil (Potentilla fruticosa), and Rosa webbiana.

Montane Grasslands & Shrublands

Where this ecoregion reaches

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

Countries

People's Republic of China

Educator packet

Region packet

Yarlung Zanbo arid steppe educator packet

Realm

Palearctic

Dominant biome

Montane Grasslands & Shrublands

Approximate area

22,953 square miles

States / provinces

Not recorded

Climate descriptor

Not recorded

Classroom prompts

- Which climate and biome facts explain why this region supports its characteristic plants?

- How do native-plant and wildlife-support claims differ from a species-presence claim?

- Which source-backed facts would you cite before using this region in a classroom map activity?

Use the Sources & citations section below for page citation styles and region source links.

Sources & citations

Cite this page

For lesson plans, articles, or regional planting notes that use this Plotwright page. To cite the underlying ecoregion framework or a specific editorial profile, use the source cards below.

Plotwright. (n.d.). Yarlung Zanbo arid steppe (Yarlung Zanbo arid steppe). Retrieved 2026, August 20, from https://plotwright.com/regions/resolve-770

Sources for this region

This page cites Plotwright first for the compiled view, then lists the upstream framework, climate, and editorial source pages so readers can cite the original material directly.

RESOLVE 2017 Terrestrial Ecoregions (Dinerstein et al.)

Primary ecoregion framework

One Earth

Wikipedia

Wikimedia Foundation

Open source

Source guide