Nature conservation

Threatened species

Southern Tableland Grassy Woodlands

Vegetation class map


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Key:
<1%
1-10%
10-50%
>50%
Estimated percentage landcover for vegetation class

Structure

Open eucalypt woodland 15-30 m tall, with a sparse non-sclerophyll shrub stratum and continuous groundcover of grasses and herbs.

Trees

Eucalyptus blakelyi (Blakelys red gum), E. bridgesiana (apple box), E. goniocalyx (bundy), E. macrorhyncha (red stringybark), E. melliodora (yellow box) and E. nortonii (large-flowered bundy). At high elevations Eucalyptus dives (broad-leaved peppermint), E. pauciflora (white sally) and E. rubida subsp. rubida (candlebark) may occur in localised areas.

Shrubs

Acacia dealbata (silver wattle), Bursaria spinosa (blackthorn), Cassinia longifolia, Exocarpos cupressiformis (native cherry), Hibbertia obtusifolia, Lissanthe strigosa (peach heath).

Forbs

Asperula conferta (common woodruff), Bulbine bulbosa (bulbine lily), Chrysocephalum apiculatum (common everlasting), Convolvulus erubescens (Australian bindweed), Desmodium varians (slender tick-trefoil), Dianella longifolia (blue flax lily), Dichondra repens (kidney weed), Geranium solanderi var. solanderi (native geranium), Glycine clandestina, Gonocarpus tetragynus, Hydrocotyle laxiflora (stinking pennywort), Hypericum gramineum (small St. Johns wort), Plantago varia (variable plantain), Ranunculus lappaceus (common buttercup), Rumex brownii (swamp dock), Stellaria pungens (prickly starwort), Tricoryne elatior (yellow autumn- lily), Austrodanthonia pilosa var. pilosa (smooth-flowered wallaby grass), A. racemosa var. racemosa, Austrostipa scabra subsp. falcata (rough speargrass), Bothriochloa macra (red grass), Echinopogon ovatus (forest hedgehog grass), Elymus scaber var. scaber (common wheatgrass), Lomandra longifolia (spiny-headed mat-rush), Microlaena stipoides var. stipoides (weeping grass), Poa sieberiana var. sieberiana (snowgrass), Schoenus apogon (common bog-rush), Themeda australis (kangaroo grass).

Habitat

Loamy soils of moderate fertility derived from fine-grained sediments and granites. On undulating to hilly terrain on the central and southern tablelands, usually above 600 m elevation and receiving 550-900 mm annual precipitation, including occasional snow falls.

Distribution

Southern and central tablelands, from Sofala and Orange districts continuing south through Goulburn and Yass into the foothills of the Victorian alps.

Notes

Shares a number of species with New England Grassy Woodlands to the north. Locally grades into Tableland Clays Grassy Woodlands on more fertile soils, or Western Slopes Grassy Woodlands with decreasing rainfall to the west. Extensively cleared for pastoral uses. Episodic tree decline due to rural dieback.

Sources

Keith & Benson (1988); Thomas et al. (2000)

See all threatened species associated with this vegetation class

See a list of species, populations and ecological communities associated with the Southern Tableland Grassy Woodlands vegetation class.