The Daba Mountains evergreen forests cover the rugged uplands of central China, spanning northeastern Sichuan, southern Shaanxi, northern Chongqing Municipality, and western Hubei. A temperate broadleaf and mixed forest, the ecoregion sits at a biogeographic crossroads between evergreen forests to the south and deciduous forests to the north: lower slopes carry oaks and arboreal mints while higher elevations support pines such as Chinese red pine and Chinese white pine. Its southern exposure shelters cold-sensitive species from the frigid winters that strike northern China, and higher reaches above the forest belt see heavy winter snow. This is a Global 200 endangered ecoregion of exceptional richness, with more than 850 woody plant species in over 250 genera and flagship animals including the Hubei golden snub-nosed monkey, and it serves as a refuge for ancient, ice age relict trees. Gardeners may recognize several ornamentals native here, including the dawn redwood (Metasequoia), the dove tree (Davidia involucrata), and Cercidiphyllum japonicum.

At a glance

About the temperate broadleaf & mixed forests biome

Four-season forests of deciduous hardwoods — oak, maple, beech — often mixed with conifers, shaped by warm summers and cold winters. Trees leaf out in spring and color in autumn; the generally fertile soils have made these forests heavily settled and farmed.

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