The Eastern Anatolian montane steppe spans the Armenian Highlands of eastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and southern Georgia, an undulating plateau lying mostly between 1,500 and 2,500 meters and crowned by volcanic peaks such as Mount Ararat and Mount Suphan. It is a mosaic of mountain, desert, and semi-desert steppe woven with open woodlands of juniper and almond, while feather grasses, fescues, and bulbous bluegrass carpet the steppe and saline basins host goosefoot and sea-lavender communities. The climate is sharply continental, with warm summers and cold winters and precipitation that thins markedly in rain-shadow valleys, while strong winds frequently limit tree growth. Its flagship species is Gmelin's mouflon, a rare endemic subspecies of wild sheep, and the region's great lakes, including Van, Urmia, and Sevan, draw large numbers of migratory birds, though overgrazing and poaching remain pressing threats. For gardeners, the cold-hardy native flora includes wild roses set within the steppe's junipers and almonds.

At a glance

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.

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