Vegetation class map
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Key:
<1%
1-10%
10-50%
>50%
Estimated percentage landcover for vegetation class
Structure
Open eucalypt woodland reaching 25 m tall on the deepest, most fertile soils, or less than 20 m on drier, slightly less fertile soils on hills and dry slopes. Although prominent throughout, the grassy ground cover may be less continuous than in Tableland Clay Grassy Woodlands. Erect shrubs are generally sparse, but there may be a surprising variety of semi-prostrate small shrubs partially hidden amongst the ground cover.
Trees
Angophora floribunda (rough-barked apple), Eucalyptus blakelyi (Blakelys red gum), E. bridgesiana (apple box), E. caliginosa (broad-leaved stringybark), E. laevopinea (silver-top stringybark), E. melliodora (yellow box), and E. youmanii (Youmans stringybark) are common throughout, with localised occurrences of Eucalyptus dalrympleana subsp. heptantha (mountain gum) and E. moluccana (grey box). On flats and in open valleys E. nova-anglica (New England peppermint) is often the dominant tree.
Shrubs
Bursaria spinosa (blackthorn), Cassinia quinquefaria, Hibbertia obtusifolia, Jacksonia scoparia (dogwood), Lissanthe strigosa (peach heath), Melichrus urceolatus (urn heath), Pimelea curviflora var. divergens (rice flower), Rubus parvifolius (native raspberry).
Scramblers
Hardenbergia violacea (false sarsaparilla), Glycine species.
Forbs
Acaena ovina, Asperula conferta (common woodruff), Chrysocephalum apiculatum (common everlasting), Desmodium varians (slender tick-trefoil), Dichondra repens (kidney weed), Geranium solanderi var. solanderi (native geranium), Gonocarpus tetragynus, Goodenia bellidifolia, Hypericum gramineum (small St. Johns wort), Opercularia aspera (course stinkweed), Poranthera microphylla, Scleranthus biflorus, Veronica plebeia (creeping speedwell), Wahlenbergia planifolia subsp. planifolia, Aristida jerichoensis (Jericho wiregrass), A. ramosa (purple wiregrass), Bothriochloa macra (red grass), Dichanthium sericeum (Queensland bluegrass), Echinopogon species (hedgehog grasses), Poa sieberiana, Sorghum leiocladum (wild sorghum), Themeda australis (kangaroo grass).
Habitat
Relatively fertile soils derived from low-quartz sedimentary or granitic substrates above 600 m elevation on rolling tablelands receiving 550-850 mm annual precipitation (both rainfall and occasional snowfall).
Distribution
Restricted to New England tableland, north from Bendemeer and Walcha on the southern New England tableland to Stanthorpe just over the Queensland border. Examples occur on the lower slopes of Mount Duval and in Imbota Nature Reserve.
Notes
Shares a number of species with Southern Tableland Grassy Woodlands, especially in the groundcover. Composition varies with substrate and topography. A greater abundance of stringybark eucalypts and shrubs are found on hills and sandy loams than on slopes and clay loams. Grades locally into Tableland Clays Grassy Woodlands on more fertile clay soils, or Western Slopes Grassy Woodlands with decreasing elevation and rainfall to the west. Extensively cleared for pastoral uses. Tree decline due to rural dieback.
Sources
Benson & Ashby (2000), Clarke et al. (1995), NPWS (1999)
See all threatened species associated with this vegetation class
See a
list of species, populations and ecological communities
associated with the New England Grassy Woodlands vegetation class.