The Central Persian Desert Basins ecoregion covers the vast central plateau of Iran, an interior basin ringed by the Zagros, Alborz, and Kopet Dag mountains, and reaches into a small part of northwestern Afghanistan. Its landscape is dominated by dwarf scrub and salt desert: saltworts and saxauls (Haloxylon) fringe the saltpans, while thorn-cushion plants, wormwood (Artemisia), and gum tragacanth (Astragalus) shrublands hold the more arid ground, alongside sand-loving genera such as Ephedra, Calligonum, and Tamarix. The climate is a temperate continental desert with extreme temperatures and minimal precipitation, encompassing the Dasht-e Kavir salt desert and the Dasht-e Lut, among the hottest and driest places on Earth. It is best known as the last refuge of the critically endangered Asiatic cheetah, and supports goitered gazelle, onager, and striped hyena across national parks including Kavir and Khar Turan. For gardeners, several drought- and salt-hardy genera native here, including Ephedra, Artemisia, Astragalus, and Tamarix, are familiar in xeric ornamental planting.

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