The Aravalli West Thorn Scrub Forests stretch across the northwestern Indian subcontinent, running along the ancient Aravalli Range through the Indian states of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab, and Jammu and Kashmir before crossing into Pakistan's Punjab and Sindh provinces. This is xeric thorn scrub: a stunted, open canopy dominated by Acacia species rarely taller than six meters, mixed with Prosopis cineraria, Salvadora, Grewia, Ziziphus, Anogeissus, Capparis, Gardenia, and Carissa. The climate is hot semi-arid to arid, with summer daytime temperatures exceeding 45 degrees Celsius and winter nights that can drop below freezing. Despite heavy clearance for agriculture and grazing, the ecoregion supports a notably rich carnivore community, with the Indian desert cat as its flagship species alongside leopard, caracal, striped hyena, and grey wolf, plus more than 400 bird species including the great Indian bustard and lesser florican. Only about four percent of this vast landscape is protected.

At a glance

About the deserts & xeric shrublands biome

Arid and semi-arid lands where low, erratic rainfall and high evaporation limit vegetation to drought-adapted shrubs, succulents, and sparse grasses. Day-to-night temperature swings are large, and life is finely tuned to water scarcity.

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.

Collections for this ecoregion

Curated multi-plant collections whose members all fit this ecoregion's zone range — no won't-grow members smuggled in. Overall fit class shown per collection is the weakest link across its members.

Related ecoregions