The Karakoram-West Tibetan Plateau alpine steppe is a vast high-elevation grassland ecoregion centered on the Karakoram Range west of the Himalaya, spanning portions of Pakistan, India, China, and Afghanistan within the upper Indus catchment. Most of it is open steppe of Stipa and Festuca grasses and forbs on slopes above 3,000 meters, while valley bottoms hold dense thickets of woody plants such as sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides), willow, tamarisk, and wild rose, with relict juniper forests in remote pockets. The climate is cold and arid, with annual precipitation ranging from roughly 200 to 900 millimeters, about 90 percent of it falling as snow, and extreme topographic relief where river channels below 2,000 meters sit beneath massifs exceeding 8,000 meters. Its flagship species is the woolly flying squirrel, and its rich community of wild sheep and goats, including Marco Polo sheep, argali, markhor, urial, and ibex, supports the snow leopard, with protection afforded by parks such as Hemis, Khunjerab, and Deosai. Hardy native ornamentals here include the showy larkspur Delphinium cashmerianum, shrubby cinquefoil (Potentilla fruticosa), and Rosa webbiana.

At a glance

About the montane grasslands & shrublands biome

High-elevation grasslands, meadows, and shrublands above the treeline or in mountain basins, including alpine and páramo systems. Cool temperatures, intense sunlight, and specialized, often endemic flora characterize them.

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