The North Tibetan Plateau–Kunlun Mountains alpine desert stretches across the northern rim of the Tibetan Plateau in China (extending into India), following the Kunlun Mountains eastward from the Pamirs at elevations mostly above 4,800 meters. This is a high, treeless cold desert where plant cover stays sparse, dominated by sedges, compact forbs, and woolly cushion plants such as the alpine thistle Saussurea gnaphaloides, with a dwarf tamarisk (Myricaria) clinging to watercourses and purple feathergrass (Stipa purpurea) on the steppe. The climate is severe: mean temperatures sit below freezing for nine months of the year, hard frosts strike nearly every night, and the scant 20–50 mm of annual precipitation falls almost entirely as snow. Despite these conditions the region holds the main calving grounds of the Tibetan antelope and shelters wild yak, Tibetan wild ass, and snow leopard, along with the endemic, once-"lost" Koslov's pika. Much of the area is safeguarded within reserves including Chang Tang and the Hoh Xil World Heritage site.

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