Zambezian-Limpopo mixed woodlands
RESOLVE 66
The Zambezian-Limpopo mixed woodlands occupy the lower-lying country of eastern southern Africa, with patches scattered across southern Malawi, fringing the Zambezian flooded grasslands in Zambia and southern Zimbabwe, and running down the middle of southern Mozambique into Botswana, broadly following the lower Zambezi and Limpopo river valleys. The terrain is flat to gently undulating valley floor, generally 200 to 600 meters in elevation, and the interplay of elephant browsing and fire shapes an open, two-tiered savanna of large trees interspersed with shrubs at varying stages of growth; the characteristic mopane tree (Colophospermum mopane) grows on the impervious, slightly basic "mopane" soils typical of these woodlands. Climate is tropical summer-rainfall, with most precipitation falling between November and April, annual rainfall of roughly 450 to 710 millimeters, and mean temperatures of about 18 to 24 degrees Celsius. The ecoregion supports a rich large-mammal fauna, including African elephant, hippopotamus, buffalo, giraffe, zebra, roan and sable antelope, lion and leopard, and its flagship species is Sharpe's grysbok (Raphicerus sharpei), a small, shy, solitary antelope. For gardeners, it is a useful analogue for hot, summer-wet, winter-dry sites on fertile, well-drained, slightly basic soils.
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
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 · 4
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.
Currently suited · 48
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.
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.