The Mitchell Grass Downs sweep across the northeastern interior of Australia, covering parts of central-west Queensland and the Northern Territory's Barkly Tableland. These are vast, mostly treeless rolling plains dominated by tussocky Mitchell grasses (Astrebla spp.), interrupted by scattered dry acacia woodlands of gidgee and stands of hardy eucalypts and paperbark, including red river gum and coolibah. The climate is tropical and semi-arid, with pronounced variation in seasonality and average annual rainfall ranging from about 350 to 750 millimetres, concentrated around the summer monsoon. After heavy rains, ephemeral lakes form and draw flocks of migratory waterbirds and shorebirds, and the region holds the largest range of the endangered night parrot, the elusive flagship species of these grasslands. For gardeners, the hardy eucalypts native here, such as the coolibah and red river gum, are well-suited landscape trees for hot, seasonally dry conditions.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 21.6°S, 141.2°E.
Climate snapshot for this ecoregion
°C
°F
Current zone range (2011–2040)
11a-13a
Plotwright
CHELSA-derived typical winter month at this ecoregion's bbox grid.
Projected (2041–2070)
11b-13b
Plotwright
Where the CHELSA models say the typical winter month is heading.
Average warming this ecoregion is on track for: +4.2°F by mid-century. SSP3-7.0 (current trajectory) · CHELSA v2.1 bio06 sampled across 10 of 10 points within this ecoregion's bounding box.
Nature Could Reach Half Protected (Dinerstein NNH 2)
About the tropical & subtropical grasslands, savannas & shrublands biome
Warm grasslands and savannas where grasses dominate and trees are scattered, maintained by seasonal rainfall, grazing, and fire. They support large herbivore communities and respond sharply to wet–dry cycles.
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.
Climate-resilient picks · 52
These plants fit this ecoregion today AND remain in range under the mid-century SSP3-7.0 projection. Lead with these for a planting that holds up as the climate shifts.
No curated collection's plants all fit this ecoregion's zone range. We surface a collection only when every member would grow here — partial fits get filtered out rather than mislead. As the catalog and the curated set both grow, this section will fill in.
Related ecoregions
Other tropical & subtropical grasslands, savannas & shrublands ecoregions to explore: