The Okhotsk-Manchurian taiga is a boreal forest ecoregion of the Russian Far East, spanning the lower Amur River and its wetlands, the west coast of the Sea of Okhotsk, and more than half of the rugged Sikhote-Alin range along with parts of the Badzhal and Dzhugdzhur mountains. It is the southernmost taiga in Eurasia, where "light taiga" of Dahurian larch at lower elevations gives way to "dark taiga" of Yeddo spruce and fir higher up, mixed with broadleaf trees such as Manchurian oak, Manchurian ash, and Amur linden. Pacific maritime influence brings warmer winters and cooler summers than the continental interior, with heavy snow cover of one to two meters near the coast by winter's end. The ecoregion is notable for blending northern Okhotsk-Kamchatka species with southern Manchurian flora and fauna, supporting reindeer, Siberian musk deer, brown bears, and the critically endangered Kaluga sturgeon of the lower Amur. Gardeners may recognize ornamentally familiar genera native here, including birch and linden.

At a glance

About the boreal forests/taiga biome

The vast northern forest belt of spruce, fir, pine, and larch, defined by long, severe winters and short growing seasons. Often underlain by permafrost and wetlands, the taiga forms one of the world’s largest terrestrial carbon stores.

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