The Caledon Conifer Forests cover upland Scotland in the United Kingdom, spanning the Northwest Highlands, the Grampian Mountains, and the Cairngorms, and reaching their highest point at Ben Nevis. The defining vegetation is remnant ancient pine forest dominated by Scots pine, accompanied by downy and silver birch, rowan, juniper, and aspen, with heather, dwarf shrub heath, montane willow scrub, and alpine vegetation on higher ground. The climate is warm-temperate with a strong oceanic influence, colder and drier toward the east, and the oceanic conditions hold the natural tree line to only about 500 to 600 meters. Native woodland survives across just a small fraction of Scotland, and these pinewoods shelter the endemic Scottish crossbill and the flagship western capercaillie, along with red squirrels, Scottish wildcats, and golden eagles. For gardeners, the region is the native home of ornamentally useful hardy genera such as Scots pine, birch, rowan, and juniper.

At a glance

About the temperate conifer forests biome

Temperate forests dominated by evergreen conifers, from coastal rainforests to montane pine and fir stands. Adapted to cool, moist or seasonally dry climates, they include some of the tallest and longest-lived trees on the planet.

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

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