Mulanje Montane forest-grassland
RESOLVE 84
The Mulanje Montane forest-grassland is an Afrotropic sky-island ecoregion in southern Malawi, centered on the Mount Mulanje massif, which rises sharply above 3,000 meters, together with lower neighboring highlands such as the Zomba Plateau and the Shire Highlands. Much of its high plateau is rolling tussock grassland intersected by deep ravines that shelter patches of Afromontane forest, where characteristic trees include the Mulanje cedar (Widdringtonia whytei), wild olive (Olea capensis), and the yellowwood Podocarpus milanjianus, with the cedar surviving mainly in fire-protected valley forests. The climate is a cool, humid tropical highland one with a single austral-summer rainy season from November to April, and frosts can occur at the highest elevations. The Mulanje cedar, Malawi's national tree and endemic to this massif, is now critically endangered after long exploitation, fire, and invasive pests, making the area a conservation priority. For gardeners in cool, frost-touched climates, several natives here, such as the evergreen wild olive (Olea capensis) and the Podocarpus yellowwoods, are familiar ornamental genera.
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.
Climate-resilient picks · 4
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.
Currently suited · 48
These plants fit the ecoregion as it is today, but the mid-century projection moves them outside their stated zone range — plan for them to struggle by 2070.
Collections for this ecoregion
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.