The Hokkaido montane conifer forests cover the mountainous central uplands of Hokkaido, the northernmost of Japan's main islands, centered on the Daisetsuzan Volcanic Group and crowned by Asahi-dake, the island's highest peak at roughly 2,290 meters. Slopes are clothed in Sakhalin fir and Ezo spruce mixed with Mongolian oak, larch, Erman's birch, painted maple, and Japanese lime, while alpine conditions above the conifer line give way to thickets of Japanese stone pine (Pinus pumila). The climate is cool and humid continental, with warm summers, large seasonal temperature swings, and substantial annual precipitation. The forests shelter brown bear, Yezo sika deer, and the Japanese pika, alongside the endangered Blakiston's eagle-owl and red-crowned cranes, and more than a quarter of the ecoregion lies within protected national parks. For gardeners, several signature ornamentals trace to these mountains, including Erman's birch and the cold-hardy ground-hugging Japanese stone pine.

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