Vegetation class map
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Key:
<1%
1-10%
10-50%
>50%
Estimated percentage landcover for vegetation class
Structure
Open eucalypt woodland with open semi-sclerophyllous shrub stratum and grassy groundcover. Widely-spaced eucalypts form an open canopy up to 25 m tall. The understorey comprises a conspicuous mixed layer of large sclerophyllous and non-sclerophyllous shrubs up to 5 m tall and a diverse, patchy ground cover of grasses.
Trees
Brachychiton populneus subsp. populneus (kurrajong), Callitris glaucophylla (white cypress pine), Eucalyptus albens (white box). In the north Eucalyptus melanophloia (silver ironbark) and E. pilligaensis (narrow-leaved grey box) may be prominent.
Shrubs
Acacia cheelii (motherumbah), A. decora (western golden wattle), A. implexa (hickory wattle), A. paradoxa (kangaroo thorn), A. vestita (weeping boree), Allocasuarina verticillata (drooping sheoak), Beyeria viscosa (sticky wallaby-bush), Bursaria spinosa (blackthorn), Carissa ovata (currant bush), Cassinia quinquefaria, Correa glabra (rock correa), Dodonaea cuneata (wedge-leaved hopbush), D. sinuolata, D. viscosa subsp. angustifolia (sticky hopbush), Geijera parviflora (wilga), Lissanthe strigosa (peach heath), Melichrus urceolatus (urn heath), Notelaea microcarpa (native olive), Olearia elliptica subsp. elliptica (sticky daisy bush), Pimelea neo-anglica (poison pimelea).
Scramblers
Clematis microphylla (small-leaved clematis), Hardenbergia violacea (false sarsaparilla).
Forbs
Arthropodium milleflorum (vanilla lily), A. minus (small vanilla lily), Bracteantha viscosa (sticky everlasting), Cynoglossum australe (Australian hounds-tongue), Daucus glochidiatus (native carrot), Desmodium brachypodum (large tick-trefoil), Dichondra repens (kidney weed), Galium migrans, Scutellaria humilis (dwarf skullcap), Wahlenbergia communis (tufted bluebell), W. stricta (tall bluebell), Cheilanthes sieberi subsp. sieberi (poison rock fern), Aristida ramosa var. ramosa (purple wiregrass), Austrostipa scabra subsp. falcata (rough speargrass), A. setacea, Carex inversa (knob sedge), Cymbopogon refractus (barbed wire grass), Elymus scaber var. scaber (common wheatgrass), Microlaena stipoides var. stipoides (weeping grass), Poa sieberiana, Themeda australis (kangaroo grass).
Habitat
Hilly terrain on the western fall of the Great Dividing Range, where average annual rainfall varies between 500 and 800 mm. The moderately fertile soils are derived from acid volcanic rocks, basalts, siltstones and sandstones.
Distribution
Largely restricted to New South Wales. South from the Moree district to the central west of the state, with major occurrences in the Nandewar and Warrumbungle ranges, the foothills of the Liverpool range, and in the Mudgee district.
Notes
Floristically variable with rainfall and latitude. Grades into Western Slopes Grassy Woodland with decreasing relief and increasing soil fertility. Large areas cleared for agricultural land uses, with many of the remaining examples showing simplified structure and composition in response to overgrazing.
Sources
Biddiscombe (1963); Prober (1996); White (2000); DLWC (2002a)
See all threatened species associated with this vegetation class
See a
list of species, populations and ecological communities
associated with the North-west Slopes Dry Sclerophyll Woodlands vegetation class.