The Gobi is a cold desert, freezing in winter and hot in summer, so its plants have to survive extremes of temperature as well as drought. Most of what grows there is low, scattered shrubs rather than cacti or trees, with bare gravel or sand between them. The ground is dominated by tough shrubs and dwarf shrubs, led by saxaul, with feather grasses and wild onions on the wetter edges, poplar thickets along rivers, and a living crust over the soil. Some of these plants belong to very old lineages that were already living there before the region became a desert.1International Journal of Plant Sciences. Miocene Origin of the Characteristic Broad-Leaved Evergreen ShrubAmmopiptanthus(Leguminosae) in the Desert Flora of Eastern Central Asia What you see in any one spot depends mostly on how much water reaches it.
The Shrubs That Define the Gobi
Four shrubs mark the true Gobi:
- Saxaul: Haloxylon ammodendron, a gnarled, nearly leafless shrub or small tree and one of the Gobi’s signature plants.2Feddes Repertorium. Plant communities of the Mongolian Transaltay Gobi
- Ephedra: Ephedra przewalskii, a jointed, green-stemmed shrub related to conifers, typical of the harshest gravel ground.3Feddes Repertorium. Plant communities of the Mongolian Transaltay Gobi
- Reaumuria: Reaumuria songarica, a low, salt-tolerant dwarf shrub common across the Gobi.4Feddes Repertorium. Plant communities of the Mongolian Transaltay Gobi
- Anabasis: Anabasis brevifolia, a small, fleshy-stemmed dwarf shrub characteristic of very open semi-desert.5Feddes Repertorium. Plant communities of the Mongolian Transaltay Gobi
Saxaul is the one most travelers remember. Its thin green twigs do the work leaves usually do, and the leaves themselves are tiny scales. Saxaul grows in open stands that look like a sparse, twisted woodland. It is one of the few woody plants big enough to give shade and fuel.
Other shrubs fill out the landscape. In the South Gobi, Salsola passerina and Zygophyllum xanthoxylon grow alongside saxaul and Anabasis as the main woody plants of semi-desert.6Candollea. Plant communities of the Gobi Gurvan Sayhan National Park (South Gobi Aymak, Mongolia) On sandy ground, Caragana korshinskii, Nitraria sibirica, and Krascheninnikovia ceratoides are among the dominant shrubs.7Arid Ecosystems. Vegetation of the Sand Massifs of the Northern Gobi Desert Ammopiptanthus mongolicus is a rare evergreen shrub with leathery leaves, which is unusual for a place with such cold winters.8PubMed Central. Comparative transcriptome profiling of a desert evergreen shrub, Ammopiptanthus mongolicus, in response to drought and cold stresses
You won’t find cacti. They are native to the Americas, so they never reached the Gobi naturally, and the freezing winters would be hard on most of them anyway. Most Gobi plants store little water and rely on small, tough stems and leaves instead.
In the field, the stems are the best clue, more than flowers. Saxaul and Ephedra both look leafless, but saxaul has gnarled woody trunks while Ephedra is a clump of thin green jointed sticks. Reaumuria and Anabasis are knee-high or lower, often grayish, and spaced far apart. Anabasis has fleshy, segmented stems, while Reaumuria has small, narrow leaves on a woodier base. Nitraria often sits on small sand mounds and bears red berries in late summer. Caragana has small pea-like yellow flowers and spines. Height alone misleads, because growing conditions change how big any of these plants gets, so combine stem shape and growth form.
How Gobi Plants Survive Drought, Cold, and Salt
Ammopiptanthus shows how a shrub can tap two water sources. It has shallow roots that drink from surface soil after rain and deep roots that reach groundwater.9PubMed Central. Margins of adaptation at the desert frontier: genetic responses of Ammopiptanthus mongolicus in arid northwestern China In the growing season, groundwater supplies about half to nearly 60% of its water.10PubMed Central. Margins of adaptation at the desert frontier: genetic responses of Ammopiptanthus mongolicus in arid northwestern China
Its leaves are built to waste little water. They carry a waxy coating up to 18 thousandths of a millimeter thick that cuts water loss.11PubMed Central. Margins of adaptation at the desert frontier: genetic responses of Ammopiptanthus mongolicus in arid northwestern China The shrub also uses water more efficiently than other shrubs that drop their leaves.12PubMed Central. Margins of adaptation at the desert frontier: genetic responses of Ammopiptanthus mongolicus in arid northwestern China In autumn and winter its leaves build up proteins that likely work as natural antifreeze.13PubMed Central. Margins of adaptation at the desert frontier: genetic responses of Ammopiptanthus mongolicus in arid northwestern China Drought and cold switch on many of the same survival genes in this shrub, along with others specific to each stress.14PubMed Central. Comparative transcriptome profiling of a desert evergreen shrub, Ammopiptanthus mongolicus, in response to drought and cold stresses
Being leafless or small-leaved helps in general. Leaves lose water through tiny pores, so less leaf area means less loss. Saxaul and Ephedra photosynthesize mainly through their green stems. Small, scattered plants also avoid competing for the same scarce water. The trade-off is slow growth.
The cold adds a second problem. Gobi winters drop far below freezing, so plants must avoid ice damage. Many shrubs go dormant, while evergreen Ammopiptanthus endures through chemical protection. The same plants then face intense summer heat.
Where soil is gravelly and very dry, a few similar stress-tolerant plants such as Ephedra take over.15PubMed Central. Testing the Functional and Phylogenetic Assembly of Plant Communities in Gobi Deserts of Northern Qinghai–Tibet Plateau On gentler ground with less gravel, a wider mix of shrubs and herbs can grow together.16PubMed Central. Testing the Functional and Phylogenetic Assembly of Plant Communities in Gobi Deserts of Northern Qinghai–Tibet Plateau
Rain sets the pace for many species. Seeds can sit in the soil for years until a wet spell. After good rain, seedlings sprout fast and push roots deep before drought returns. Short-lived plants use these pulses to refill their seed supply, and a rainy summer can make the Gobi look surprisingly green.
Different Plants for Gravel, Sand, Salt, and Mountain Edges
Where Gobi peaks rise, the upper slopes hold juniper scrub and feather-grass steppe because mountains catch more moisture.17Candollea. Plant communities of the Gobi Gurvan Sayhan National Park (South Gobi Aymak, Mongolia) Mountains force moving air upward, where it cools, so more rain and snow fall on them than on the plains around them.
Lower down, Stipa gobica grassland gives way to desert steppe, a drier mix of feather grass and wild onion between steppe and desert.18Candollea. Plant communities of the Gobi Gurvan Sayhan National Park (South Gobi Aymak, Mongolia) Toward inland basins and salt pans, this merges into very open dwarf-shrub land.19Candollea. Plant communities of the Gobi Gurvan Sayhan National Park (South Gobi Aymak, Mongolia) On alluvial fans, dominant plants grow in patches near the top and in bands farther down, with fewer species at lower elevations.20Global Ecology and Conservation. Using unmanned aerial vehicles to quantify spatial patterns of dominant vegetation along an elevation gradient in the typical Gobi region in Xinjiang, Northwest China Desert steppe receives more rain than the desert core, so grasses and onions survive, and it is the main summer grazing land for herders.
Small dips and slopes matter too. Plant cover is higher on shady or windward slopes and in spots that collect runoff.21Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies. Microtopography-driven water redistribution shapes vegetation patterns: A case plot in Gobi Desert It thins again in valley bottoms, where flash floods disturb the ground.22Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies. Microtopography-driven water redistribution shapes vegetation patterns: A case plot in Gobi Desert Plant mixes change so much from site to site that two places a short distance apart can share few species.23PubMed Central. A Study of the Diversity Patterns of Desert Vegetation Communities in an Arid Zone of China
Green bands near hills often mean more water and grassland. Gravel plains with sparse dark shrubs often point to the driest true desert. White crusty ground often means salt and salt-tolerant shrubs.
Sand dunes have their own plants. On sand massifs, shrubs like Caragana, saxaul, Nitraria, and the grass Psammochloa villosa naturally hold sand in place.24Arid Ecosystems. Vegetation of the Sand Massifs of the Northern Gobi Desert Shrubs also trap blowing sand into mounds whose shape depends on the plant that built them.25Sand Dunes of the Northern Hemisphere. Morphology, Distribution and Formation of the Nebkhas on Gobi and Desert in China
A mound starts when a shrub slows blowing sand, so grains drop around its stems instead of moving on. As the mound grows, the shrub keeps growing upward through it, so the plant and the mound build each other. These plant-built sand mounds also hold a little moisture and fine soil, so they are slightly better places for plants than the open sand around them.
Poplar Forests Along Desert Rivers
The Gobi region does have forests, but only along water. Euphrates poplar (Populus euphratica) grows in dense riverside thickets with willow, tamarisk, and mulberry in arid Central Asia.26Wikipedia. Populus euphratica It thrives on seasonally flooded ground and tolerates salty and brackish water.27Wikipedia. Populus euphratica It also withstands freezing winters, scorching summers, drought, waterlogging, and salty soil.28UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Taklimakan Desert—Populus euphratica Forests
Its leaves change shape as the tree ages, and its wide roots draw salt from soil to help pull in water.29UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Taklimakan Desert—Populus euphratica Forests These forests hold soil and sand and protect river valleys from storms.30UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Taklimakan Desert—Populus euphratica Forests The trees leaf out in spring and drop their leaves in autumn, so the forest looks bare for much of the cold season.
A tree in a desert depends on river or groundwater, not rain. If rivers dry up, the forests die back, which makes them a sign of a healthy river.
The Living Crust Between the Plants
The bare-looking ground between shrubs is not lifeless. Tiny organisms called cyanobacteria form a living soil crust that helps other organisms survive in deserts.31Eurasian Soil Science. Ecological Features and Adaptive Capabilities of Cyanobacteria in Desert Ecosystems: A Review They make organic matter and pull nitrogen from the air into the soil.32Eurasian Soil Science. Ecological Features and Adaptive Capabilities of Cyanobacteria in Desert Ecosystems: A Review Plant roots also partner with fungi and nitrogen-fixing bacteria that help them get water, nitrogen, and phosphorus.33PubMed Central. Harnessing plant-soil-microbiome synergy for resilient desert restoration Gobi soils are poor, so nitrogen from crusts and microbes is valuable.
The soil crust looks like dark, slightly lumpy or crunchy patches on the surface. Footsteps and tire tracks break it, and it takes years to recover, so staying on existing tracks protects it. Broken crust lets wind blow soil away.
Rare Plants Found Nowhere Else
In Mongolia, the Dzungarian Gobi has 20 plants found only in Mongolia and the Gobi Altai 16.34Diversity. Updated Checklist of Vascular Plants Endemic to Mongolia An endemic plant grows naturally in one region and nowhere else in the world, so losing it there means losing it entirely. Mountain ranges tend to hold more of them because each range is an isolated pocket with its own conditions.
Thirteen plant genera, including Ammopiptanthus, Potaninia, and Tetraena, live mainly in the deserts of eastern Central Asia.35Nordic Journal of Botany. Modelling the geographic distributions of endemic genera in the eastern Central Asian desert Ammopiptanthus descends from evergreen plants of an ancient warm sea coast and adapted as the region dried.36International Journal of Plant Sciences. Miocene Origin of the Characteristic Broad-Leaved Evergreen ShrubAmmopiptanthus(Leguminosae) in the Desert Flora of Eastern Central Asia
Old plant groups lasted because the region has had a fairly stable dry climate for millions of years.37PubMed Central. Phylogenetic structure and formation mechanism of shrub communities in arid and semiarid areas of the Mongolian Plateau Being rare and slow-growing, though, makes these plants vulnerable to grazing and digging.
Which Animals Eat Gobi Plants
Camels manage on poorer forage than sheep, and domestic camels feed most on saxaul because it offers the most reliable food.38PubMed Central. Space and habitat use by wild Bactrian camels in the Transaltai Gobi of southern Mongolia Saxaul keeps its green twigs when grasses have died back, so it stays available through dry spells and winter. Wild Bactrian camels favor salty saxaul stands even though they are not very productive.39PubMed Central. Space and habitat use by wild Bactrian camels in the Transaltai Gobi of southern Mongolia
Khulan, the Mongolian wild ass, eats up to two-thirds drought-loving grasses and shrubs in winter but under a tenth in summer.40PubMed Central. Sequential stable isotope analysis reveals differences in dietary history of three sympatric equid species in the Mongolian Gobi Przewalski’s horses keep a steadier diet year-round.41PubMed Central. Sequential stable isotope analysis reveals differences in dietary history of three sympatric equid species in the Mongolian Gobi
Herds of goats, sheep, and camels graze the same shrubs as wild animals. Heavy grazing shifts which plants dominate, and fencing out livestock can let palatable grasses recover.
How Herders Use Gobi Plants
Gobi nomads widely recognize saxaul, the sand plant Agriophyllum pungens, and the dwarf rhubarb Rheum nanum.42Journal of Ethnobiology. Will Indigenous Plant Knowledge Survive? Documenting Ethnobotany Among Mongolia’s Nomadic Communities in the Gobi Desert Medicine is the most common use reported.43Journal of Ethnobiology. Will Indigenous Plant Knowledge Survive? Documenting Ethnobotany Among Mongolia’s Nomadic Communities in the Gobi Desert Herders pass down which plant to use and how, mostly by word of mouth. Being widely recognized doesn’t mean a plant has been proven to work, so this is a record of traditional use rather than medical advice.
Saxaul wood has long been burned for heat and cooking, and Agriophyllum seeds have been gathered as food in lean times. Collecting too much wood thins saxaul stands. This plant knowledge is at risk as nomadic life changes.44Journal of Ethnobiology. Will Indigenous Plant Knowledge Survive? Documenting Ethnobotany Among Mongolia’s Nomadic Communities in the Gobi Desert
Is the Gobi Getting Greener or Drier
Gobi plant growth rises and falls closely with rainfall.45Land. Satellite Monitoring of Vegetation Response to Precipitation and Dust Storm Outbreaks in Gobi Desert Regions In Mongolia, rain explains about half of yearly plant growth, temperature about a third, and livestock about 5%.46Advances in Climate Change Research. Revealing the dual impacts of climate change and grazing on vegetation in Mongolia: Permafrost buffering and the paradox of greening The desert’s edge with grassland moves noticeably year to year, mainly with conditions before the growing season.47International Journal of Remote Sensing. Interannual variations of the grassland boundaries bordering the eastern edges of the Gobi Desert in central Asia The Gobi contracted between 2000 and 2012.48Remote Sensing. Contraction of the Gobi Desert, 2000–2012
Greening seen from space can still mask real pasture degradation.49Advances in Climate Change Research. Revealing the dual impacts of climate change and grazing on vegetation in Mongolia: Permafrost buffering and the paradox of greening Bare soil strongly affects satellite readings where plant cover is thin.50Arid Ecosystems. NDVI for Monitoring of the State of Steppe and Desert Ecosystems of the Gobi A wet year can produce a flush of weeds or short-lived plants that look green but are poor food for livestock. Only ground surveys can show whether the useful plants are still there.
Restoration tests point to native shrubs. Planting saplings of native shrubs matched natural vegetation best, at about 75% similar. Spraying seed reached under half that similarity, and drilled seed failed to resemble natural cover.