Vegetation class map
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Key:
<1%
1-10%
10-50%
>50%
Estimated percentage landcover for vegetation class
Structure
Open heath dominated by emergent mallees up to 4 m tall and shrubs up 1.5 m tall with a semi-continuous graminoid groundcover. Depending on local fire history and soils, open heath may interspersed with dense scrub up to 4 m tall.
Trees
Mallee forms of Corymbia gummifera (red bloodwood), Eucalyptus camfieldii (heart-leaved stringybark), E. luehmanniana (yellow-top ash) and E. obstans (Port Jackson mallee) may be present.
Shrubs
Allocasuarina distyla (scrub sheoak), Angophora hispida (dwarf apple), Banksia ericifolia (heath banksia), B. oblongifolia, B. serrata (old man banksia), Conospermum taxifolium (coneseeds), Darwinia diminuta, Dillwynia floribunda (egg and bacon pea), Epacris microphylla (coral heath), Grevillea oleoides, G. sphacelata, Hakea teretifolia (dagger hakea), Isopogon anemonifolius (broad-leaved drumsticks), Leptospermum squarrosum (pink teatree), L. trinervium (flaky-barked teatree), Leucopogon microphyllus (small-leaved white beard), Persoonia lanceolata (lance-leaved geebung), Pultenaea tuberculata, Xanthorrhoea resinifera.
Forbs
Actinotus minor (lesser flannel flower), Dampiera stricta, Goodenia stelligera, Cyathochaeta diandra, Entolasia stricta (wiry panic), Lepidosperma filiforme, L. neesii, Leptocarpus tenax, Ptilothrix deusta.
Habitat
Exposed coastal sandstone plateau with infertile, shallow, moderately damp soils.
Distribution
Coastal sandstone plateau in the Sydney Basin, from Gosford to Royal National Park, with southern outliers at Barren Grounds and Jervis Bay. Unique to New South Wales.
Notes
A very diverse and distinctive group of assemblages, varying with soil depth, drainage and fire history. They grade into Sydney Coastal Sandstone Dry Sclerophyll Forests with decreasing exposure or increasing soil drainage, and are replaced by Coastal Swamp Heaths in poorly drained sites.
Sources
Thomas et al. (2000); Keith & Tozer (unpubl.)
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See a
list of species, populations and ecological communities
associated with the Sydney Coastal Heaths vegetation class.