The Murray-Darling woodlands and mallee ecoregion stretches across the sedimentary plains of southeastern Australia, spanning parts of New South Wales, South Australia, and Victoria along the basins of the Murray and Darling rivers. Its characteristic vegetation is multi-stemmed eucalypt mallee woodland, with taller stands of black box (Eucalyptus largiflorens) and river red gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis) lining the river floodplains and terraces. The plains carry a dry Mediterranean climate, with somewhat higher rainfall in the south grading to more arid conditions in the north, and summer fires are common. Recognized as one of the world's rare Mediterranean-climate ecoregions, it shelters a rich bird fauna, with the threatened black-eared miner (Manorina melanotis) serving as its flagship species, though much of the original woodland has been cleared for wheat farming and pasture. Gardeners will recognize several of its native understory genera, including Acacia, Banksia, Grevillea, Hakea, Melaleuca, and the grass-tree Xanthorrhoea.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 35.0°S, 141.1°E.
Climate snapshot for this ecoregion
°C
°F
Current zone range (2011–2040)
11a-12a
Plotwright
CHELSA-derived typical winter month at this ecoregion's bbox grid.
Projected (2041–2070)
11a-12b
Plotwright
Where the CHELSA models say the typical winter month is heading.
Average warming this ecoregion is on track for: +2.4°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.
At a glance
Dominant biome
Mediterranean Forests, Woodlands & Scrub
Realm
Australasia
Approximate area
80,221 sq mi
Conservation tier
Nature Could Recover (Dinerstein NNH 3)
About the mediterranean forests, woodlands & scrub biome
Regions of hot, dry summers and mild, wet winters supporting drought-adapted shrublands — chaparral, maquis, fynbos — and open woodlands. Fire is a natural shaping force, and these climates hold extraordinary plant diversity and endemism.
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 mediterranean forests, woodlands & scrub ecoregions to explore: