The Saharan halophytics ecoregion is a scattered network of low-lying saline depressions and wetlands strung across North Africa, spanning Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Mauritania, and Western Sahara. It covers chotts and sebkhas such as Chott Melrhir and Chott el Djerid, along with the vast Qattara Depression and the spring-fed Siwa Oasis, supporting a mosaic of salt pans, seasonal salt lakes, salt marshes, reed beds, and oases. The vegetation is azonal and salt-adapted, dominated by halophytes including picklegrass (Salicornia), saltbush (Atriplex), the subshrub Salsola, Halocnemum strobilaceum, and white wormwood (Artemisia herba-alba). The climate is a hot desert (Köppen BWh) with hot-month averages around 29 to 35 degrees Celsius and only about 10 to 100 millimetres of rain per year. The depressions draw notable wildlife, with the Dorcas gazelle as a flagship species alongside the vulnerable Cuvier's gazelle and Houbara bustard. For gardeners working salty or arid ground, the region's native saltbush (Atriplex) and aromatic Artemisia are familiar drought- and salt-tolerant genera.

At a glance

About the flooded grasslands & savannas biome

Grasslands and savannas subject to seasonal or year-round flooding, including large wetland complexes. Exceptionally productive, they concentrate waterbirds and aquatic life.

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

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