The Gissaro-Alai open woodlands wind through the western offshoots of the Tian Shan Mountains across Central Asia, spanning Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Afghanistan, including the Gissar, Zarafshan, Turkestan, and Alay ranges that ring the Fergana Valley. The signature habitat is open juniper woodland that occupies the altitude band between the desert valley floors and the barren ridgelines above the tree line, dominated by species such as Juniperus seravschanica, Juniperus turkestanica, and Juniperus semiglobosa, alongside ephemeroid herbs and pockets of wild fruit and nut forest. The climate is continental, classed as a humid continental hot-dry-summer type (Koppen Dsa) with large seasonal temperature swings and hot summers. The ecoregion is dotted with protected areas, including Zaamin National Park in Uzbekistan and Ramit Nature Reserve in Tajikistan, and shelters threatened wildlife such as the snow leopard. For gardeners, it is a native home to ornamental and edible woody plants, including wild apples, pears, cherries, almonds, pistachios, roses, and honeysuckle, and, in spring, sweeps of red tulips.

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