The Qaidam Basin semi-desert occupies a high tectonic depression in Haixi Prefecture, Qinghai Province, in northwestern China, slumping between the Tibetan Plateau to the south and the Altun and Qilian mountain ranges that wall it in. Sitting near 3,000 meters in elevation, it is an endorheic basin where inflowing water cannot escape and simply evaporates, leaving extensive saline lakes and vast salt flats; the western lowlands can be almost entirely barren. The climate is severely continental and among the most arid of any non-polar place, with long, very cold winters, persistent seasonal winds, and spring sandstorms. The most conspicuous plant is black saxaul, a robust, cold- and salt-tolerant shrub or small tree of the amaranth family, alongside a native tumbleweed, while desert poplar woodlands persist in oases. The basin has historically supported wild ungulates such as goitered gazelle, blue sheep, wild yak, Asiatic wild ass, and argali, with the bar-headed goose as a flagship species, though these populations have declined and the ecoregion remains effectively unprotected.

At a glance

About the deserts & xeric shrublands biome

Arid and semi-arid lands where low, erratic rainfall and high evaporation limit vegetation to drought-adapted shrubs, succulents, and sparse grasses. Day-to-night temperature swings are large, and life is finely tuned to water scarcity.

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