The St. Helena scrub and woodlands ecoregion covers a single remote volcanic island in the South Atlantic Ocean, roughly 1,950 km west of Africa, that today forms part of the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. Its native vegetation is a remarkable assemblage of island endemics, including gumwoods (Commidendrum robustum), the St. Helena dwarf ebony and redwood (Trochetiopsis), tree-like cabbage trees in the daisy family, and the Saint Helena tree fern, drawn from a flora of about 45 endemic vascular plants in several genera found nowhere else. The climate is dry subtropical, with monthly temperatures of roughly 15 to 32 degrees Celsius and a low mean annual rainfall of about 152 mm. The ecoregion is highly degraded: less than one percent of the island retains native semi-natural forest in scattered remnants, over half is open wasteland, and the Saint Helena olive (Nesiota elliptica) has gone extinct, leaving the St. Helena plover, or wirebird, as the sole surviving endemic bird and the ecoregion's flagship species. Gardeners may recognize the dwarf ebony (Trochetiopsis ebenus), a compact mallow-family shrub among the island's distinctive woody endemics.

At a glance

About the tropical & subtropical grasslands, savannas & shrublands biome

Warm grasslands and savannas where grasses dominate and trees are scattered, maintained by seasonal rainfall, grazing, and fire. They support large herbivore communities and respond sharply to wet–dry cycles.

Catalog plants suited to this ecoregion

No catalog plants intersect this ecoregion's zone range. As the catalog grows to cover this region's climate band, suggestions will surface here.

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