The Eastern Himalayan subalpine conifer forests form a narrow belt of high-mountain forest stretching from the Kali Gandaki (Gandaki) River in central Nepal eastward through Bhutan and into the Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim regions of northern India, with adjacent reaches into Myanmar and Tibet, occupying the band roughly between 3,000 and 4,000 metres just below the Himalayan treeline. The canopy is dominated by conifers such as fir (Abies spectabilis), larch (Larix griffithii), junipers (Juniperus recurva and J. indica), and blue pine (Pinus wallichiana), with Himalayan birch (Betula utilis) and an understory rich in rhododendrons. Drawing moisture from the Bay of Bengal monsoon, the eastern stretches are notably wetter than the western Himalayas and support a higher treeline, with cold, snowy winters that fall below freezing. Sitting at the transition between the Indomalayan and Palearctic realms, the ecoregion harbors around 90 mammal species and roughly 200 bird species, including red pandas, takins, and ground-dwelling pheasants and tragopans, and a substantial share of it lies within protected areas such as Langtang, Jigme Dorji, and Kanchenjunga. For gardeners, this is a heartland of ornamental rhododendrons, with native species including Rhododendron hodgsonii, R. barbatum, R. campylocarpum, and R. thomsonii.

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

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