Editing Ural Mountains (section)

==Flora==
[[File:Hjortron.jpg|thumb|[[Cloudberry]]]]
The landscapes of the Urals vary with both latitude and longitude and are dominated by forests and steppes. The southern area of the Mughalzhar Hills is a semidesert. Steppes lie mostly in the southern and especially south-eastern Urals. Meadow steppes have developed on the lower parts of mountain slopes and are covered with [[Trifolium medium|zigzag]] and [[Trifolium montanum|mountain clover]]s, ''[[Serratula]] gmelinii'', [[Filipendula vulgaris|dropwort]], [[Poa pratensis|meadow-grass]] and ''[[Bromus inermis]]'', reaching the height of {{convert|60|–|80|cm}}. Much of the land is cultivated. To the south, the meadow steppes become more sparse, dry and low. The steep gravelly slopes of the mountains and hills of the eastern slopes of the Southern Urals are mostly covered with rocky steppes. River valleys contain [[willow]], [[Populus|poplar]] and [[caragana]] shrubs.<ref name=bse/>

Forest landscapes of the Urals are diverse, especially in the southern part. The western areas are dominated by dark coniferous taiga forests which change to mixed and deciduous forests in the south. The eastern mountain slopes have light coniferous taiga forests. The Northern Urals are dominated by conifers, namely [[Siberian fir]], [[Siberian pine]], [[Scots pine]], [[Siberian spruce]], [[Norway spruce]] and [[Siberian larch]], as well as by [[silver birch|silver]] and [[downy birch]]es. The forests are much sparser in the Polar Urals. Whereas in other parts of the Ural Mountains they grow up to an altitude of {{convert|1000|m}}, in the Polar Urals the [[tree line]] is at {{convert|250|–|400|m}}. The low polar forests are mixed with swamps, lichens, bogs and shrubs. [[Betula nana|Dwarf birch]], mosses and berries ([[blueberry]], [[Rubus chamaemorus|cloudberry]], [[Empetrum nigrum|black crowberry]], etc.) are abundant. The forests of the Southern Urals are the most diverse in composition: here, together with coniferous forests are also abundant broadleaf tree species such as [[English oak]], [[Norway maple]] and elm.<ref name=bse/> The [[Virgin Komi Forests]] in the northern Urals are recognized as a [[World Heritage]] site.