The Junggar (Dzungarian) Basin semi-desert occupies a vast intermontane basin in northwestern China's Xinjiang region, bordering Kazakhstan and Mongolia and ringed by the Tian Shan to the south, the Altai to the north, and the Tarbagatai mountains. Its arid core, the Gurbantunggut Desert, carries sparse low scrub dominated by Anabasis, with taller shrublands of black saxaul (Haloxylon ammodendron), Ephedra przewalskii, Nitraria, and Caragana near the basin margins. The climate is sharply continental, with bitterly cold Siberian-influenced winters and mean annual precipitation of only about 80 to 100 millimeters at the center, rising to 100 to 250 millimeters toward the edges, which keeps it a semi-desert rather than true desert. The ecoregion is famous as one of the last refuges of the wild Przewalski's horse and still supports wild Bactrian camels, Asiatic wild ass, and goitered gazelle. Oases and streamsides nurture riparian groves of desert poplar (Populus), tamarisk, and willow, hardy genera familiar to gardeners working dry, salty, cold-winter ground.

At a glance

About the deserts & xeric shrublands biome

Arid and semi-arid lands where low, erratic rainfall and high evaporation limit vegetation to drought-adapted shrubs, succulents, and sparse grasses. Day-to-night temperature swings are large, and life is finely tuned to water scarcity.

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