The Elburz Range forest steppe is an arid, mountainous ecoregion that arcs across northern Iran along the southern and eastern slopes of the Alborz (Elburz) Mountains, running south of the Caspian Sea from near the Azerbaijan border toward Turkmenistan. Its slopes are forested chiefly with juniper (Juniperus excelsa), a tree well suited to the dry mountain climate, alongside an understory of pistachio, almond, maple, and cotoneaster shrubs, while exceptional alpine flora persists at the highest elevations. The climate is arid with cold winters, and annual precipitation is modest and falls largely as winter snow. The range shelters the Syrian brown bear, Persian leopard, roe and red deer, wild boar, and birds such as golden eagles, though logging, overgrazing, and dam construction have reduced its forests, with protection afforded by sites including Golestan National Park. For gardeners, the region is the native home of cold-hardy juniper, maple, almond, and cotoneaster, several of which are familiar ornamental and fruiting genera.

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