The Russian Bering Tundra spans northeastern Russia, reaching from the Kolyma Mountains in the west to the Bering Sea coast in the east and south toward the Kamchatka peninsula. Its signature cover is Beringian woodland, a mosaic of low Siberian dwarf-pine thickets and lichen-rich tundra, with willow and alder lining floodplains and grasses, heaths, and members of the Asteraceae, Ranunculaceae, and Rosaceae families clothing higher ground. The climate is subarctic, with long, cold winters and short, cool summers, and the land sits largely on permanent permafrost, giving way to discontinuous permafrost only in the far south. Thousands of lakes and coastal cliffs make it a vital stopover and breeding ground for migratory birds and seabirds, and the critically endangered spoon-billed sandpiper serves as its flagship species. For cold-climate gardeners, the region's native willows, alders, and Rosaceae illustrate the hardy, low-growing palette that thrives under permafrost and a brief growing season.

At a glance

About the tundra biome

Treeless polar and high-mountain landscapes of low shrubs, sedges, mosses, and lichens, where cold and a short growing season cap plant height. Soils are frequently frozen as permafrost, and these systems recover only slowly from disturbance.

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