The Sayan montane conifer forests blanket the mid-elevation slopes of the Sayan Mountains across southern Siberian Russia and northern Mongolia, stretching some 2,500 km from the Kuznetsk Alatau in the west to Lake Baikal, generally between about 600 and 1,800 meters elevation. These are among the world's largest relict "dark taiga" forests, dominated by Siberian fir (Abies sibirica), Siberian pine (Pinus sibirica), and Siberian spruce (Picea obovata), giving way at higher altitudes to sparser stands of Siberian larch (Larix sibirica) and Scots pine. The climate is strongly continental and subarctic, with short, cool summers and very cold, long winters. Sitting where climatic and floral zones meet, the ecoregion supports high biodiversity, with over 800 recorded plant species and large mammals such as the snow leopard, brown bear, and Siberian musk deer; the great grey owl is its flagship species. For gardeners, its forest understory includes ornamental and edible genera such as rhododendrons, guelder rose, and blackcurrants.

At a glance

About the temperate conifer forests biome

Temperate forests dominated by evergreen conifers, from coastal rainforests to montane pine and fir stands. Adapted to cool, moist or seasonally dry climates, they include some of the tallest and longest-lived trees on the planet.

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