The ecoregion covers the middle portion of the Southern Alps, and includes extensive alpine grasslands, fellfields, and montane forests.

[1] Alpine grassland, also known as tussock herbfield, is the dominant plant community in the ecoregion.

Herbaceous perennial plants are interspersed with the tussock grasses, including speargrasses (Aciphylla spp.

The transition from montane Nothofagus forest to alpine grassland is generally abrupt.

In the west, a belt of dense woody shrubs, including Dracophyllum traversii, forms a more gradual transition between the montane forests and alpine grasslands.