Vegetation class map
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Key:
<1%
1-10%
10-50%
>50%
Estimated percentage landcover for vegetation class
Structure
A mosaic of open forests with an open graminoid understorey and closed sedgeland. Open forests dominated by eucalypts may exceed 40 m tall, while denser forests dominated by Casuarina and Melaleuca typically grow up to 20 m tall.
Trees
On levees and elevated terraces the canopy is dominated by Angophora floribunda (rough-barked apple), A. subvelutina (broad-leaved apple), Eucalyptus amplifolia (cabbage gum), E. grandis (flooded gum), E. robusta (swamp mahogany), E. saligna (Sydney blue gum) or E. tereticornis (forest red gum). Low-lying flats with saline soils north from Bega are dominated by Casuarina glauca (swamp oak), while north from the Manning River floodplain there are scattered individuals of Lophostemon suaveolens (swamp mahogany) andoccasionallyFicus macrophylla (Moreton Bay fig). Small trees include Livistona australis (cabbage palm), Melaleuca linariifolia and M. styphelioides (prickly-leaved teatree).
Shrubs
Glochidion ferdinandi (cheese tree), Melaleuca ericifolia (swamp paperbark), Myoporum acuminatum.
Scramblers
Parsonsia straminea (common silkpod).
Forbs
Alternanthera denticulata (lesser joyweed), Commelina cyanea (scurvy weed), Dichondra repens (kidney weed), Lobelia alata (angled lobelia), Persicaria decipiens (slender knotweed), Pratia purpurascens (white root), Solanum pungetium (eastern nightshade), Viola hederacea (ivy-leaved violet), Baumea juncea (bare twig-rush), Carex appressa (tussock sedge), Cynodon dactylon (couch), Echinopogon ovatus (forest hedgehog grass), Entolasia marginata (bordered panic), Gahnia clarkei (tall saw-sedge), Hemarthria uncinata, Imperata cylindrica var. major (blady grass), Juncus kraussii subsp. australiensis (sea rush), Juncus usitatus (common rush), Lomandra longifolia (spiny-headed mat-rush), Microlaena stipoides var. stipoides (weeping grass), Oplismenus imbecillus, Phragmites australis (common reed), Zoysia macrantha (prickly couch).
Habitat
Coastal floodplains with fertile alluvial soil, periodically inundated. Levees and elevated river flats (up to 250m above sea level) support predominantly eucalypt forests, but these give way to Casuarina forests on more frequently inundated low-lying flats, particularly where soils are subsaline.
Distribution
Coastal floodplains and associated river flats throughout the New South Wales coast extending into Queensland and Victoria.
Notes
A poorly known group of assemblages with latitudinal trends in composition. Shares floristic affinities with Coastal Swamp Forests and Coastal Freshwater Lagoons. Extensively cleared and fragmented by agricultural clearing. Remnants are small patches and isolated trees that typically suffer acute weed problems.
Sources
Thomas et al. (2000); NPWS (2000); Tozer (2003)
See all threatened species associated with this vegetation class
See a
list of species, populations and ecological communities
associated with the Coastal Floodplain Wetlands vegetation class.