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.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 23.5°N, 57.5°E.
Climate snapshot for this ecoregion
°C
°F
Current zone range (2011–2040)
12a-13b
Plotwright
CHELSA-derived typical winter month at this ecoregion's bbox grid.
Projected (2041–2070)
12b-13b
Plotwright
Where the CHELSA models say the typical winter month is heading.
Average warming this ecoregion is on track for: +4.0°F by mid-century. SSP3-7.0 (current trajectory) · CHELSA v2.1 bio06 sampled across 10 of 10 points within this ecoregion's bounding box.
At a glance
Dominant biome
Temperate Grasslands, Savannas & Shrublands
Realm
Palearctic
Approximate area
17,947 sq mi
Conservation tier
Nature Could Recover (Dinerstein NNH 3)
About the temperate grasslands, savannas & shrublands biome
Temperate prairies, steppes, and pampas of grasses and forbs with few trees, under continental climates of hot summers and cold winters. Their deep, fertile soils have made them among the most extensively converted biomes for agriculture.
Catalog plants suited to this ecoregion
Computed from each plant's stated USDA zone range against this ecoregion's CHELSA-derived current zone range, with the CHELSA mid-century warming delta applied for the projection. Plants whose stated range falls outside both the current and projected zone end up dropped; the rest land in one of the three buckets below.
Climate-resilient picks · 4
These plants fit this ecoregion today AND remain in range under the mid-century SSP3-7.0 projection. Lead with these for a planting that holds up as the climate shifts.
No curated collection's plants all fit this ecoregion's zone range. We surface a collection only when every member would grow here — partial fits get filtered out rather than mislead. As the catalog and the curated set both grow, this section will fill in.
Related ecoregions
Other temperate grasslands, savannas & shrublands ecoregions to explore: