The Red Sea coastal desert is a Deserts and Xeric Shrublands ecoregion straddling the Palearctic edge of northeastern Africa, running along the Red Sea and Gulf of Suez across most of Egypt's coast (excluding Sinai) and about half of Sudan's, taking in both a narrow coastal strip and the parallel Red Sea Hills. Its vegetation grades from shoreline mangrove swamps dominated by Avicennia marina and salt marshes into sparse coastal shrubland with Limonium and Tamarix, giving way to dry valley and mountain woodlands of Acacia tortilis and Balanites aegyptiaca. The climate is subtropical and intensely arid, with coastal rainfall as little as a few millimeters falling mainly in winter, while higher eastern slopes capture extra moisture from fog and occasional storms. The Jebel Elba massif, fed by mountain mists, is the region's botanical hotspot and shelters wildlife such as the Nubian ibex and Dorcas gazelle, with offshore islands holding the Red Sea's largest breeding colony of the white-eyed gull. For gardeners, the native Acacia tortilis and Tamarix illustrate the kind of heat- and drought-hardy genera adapted to these conditions.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 24.6°N, 34.8°E.
Climate snapshot for this ecoregion
°C
°F
Current zone range (2011–2040)
10b-13b
Plotwright
CHELSA-derived typical winter month at this ecoregion's bbox grid.
Projected (2041–2070)
11a-13b
Plotwright
Where the CHELSA models say the typical winter month is heading.
Average warming this ecoregion is on track for: +3.9°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
Deserts & Xeric Shrublands
Realm
Palearctic
Approximate area
22,782 sq mi
Conservation tier
Nature Could Reach Half Protected (Dinerstein NNH 2)
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.
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.
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.
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 deserts & xeric shrublands ecoregions to explore: