The mountains intercept moisture-bearing winds from the Arabian Sea, creating orographic precipitation and frequent fogs that sustain unique woodlands and shrublands in a desert region.

It is named for its tallest peak, Jabal Ureys (1,735 metres), which lies at the western end of the range close to the coast.

[3] The predominant plant communities include deciduous woodland with trees Terminalia (formerly Anogeissus), Vachellia and Commiphora, shrubland of Olea europaea, Dodonaea viscosa, Carissa spinarum and Searsia somalensis, succulent scrubland including Aloe, Caralluma, Euphorbia, Adenium and Cissus, as well as semi-desert grassland.

It is dry-season deciduous, losing its leaves in November or December at the start of the winter dry season and re-leafing when the khareef (southwest monsoon) brings summer rains.

[6] In the Ureys range, semi-evergreen forests grow on the seaward plateau and escarpment between 800 and 1,200 metres elevation, dominated by Olea europaea subsp.

Escarpment gorges with more year-round water shelter evergreen trees Rotheca myricoides, Ficus ingens, Nuxia oppositifolia and Mimusops laurifolia, which are generally found in the forests of eastern Africa.