Vegetation class map
Loading map...
Key:
<1%
1-10%
10-50%
>50%
Estimated percentage landcover for vegetation class
Structure
Open heath comprising an open canopy of sclerophyll shrubs 12 m tall, usually with emergent mallee eucalypts and an open or patchy groundcover of sclerophyll sedges and herbs.
Trees
Eucalyptus laophila, E. langleyi, E. stricta (mallee ash).
Shrubs
Allocasuarina nana, Baeckea brevifolia (short-leaved heath), Banksia ericifolia (heath banksia), Boronia anemonifolia (sticky boronia), B. microphylla (small-leaved boronia), Darwinia fascicularis subsp. oligantha, D. taxifolia subsp. taxifolia, Lambertia formosa (mountain devil), Leptospermum trinervium (flaky-barked teatree), Petrophile canescens (conesticks), P. pulchella (conesticks), Philotheca obovalis, Phyllota squarrosa (dense phyllota), Pultenaea canescens.
Forbs
Dampiera stricta, Gonocarpus tetragynus, Goodenia bellidifolia, Patersonia sericea (silky purple-flag), Entolasia stricta (wiry panic), Lepidosperma viscidum, Lomandra glauca (pale mat-rush), Schoenus villosus (hairy bog-rush).
Habitat
Exposed sandstone ridges and upper slopes, often on west-facing clifftops at elevations from 600 to 1200 m. Soils are periodically damp, shallow or skeletal sandy loams.
Distribution
Western parts of Wollemi to southern Blue Mountains, and the Morton-Budawang region west of Nowra and Milton. Unique to the Sydney basin in New South Wales. Examples may be seen on Narrow Neck Peninsula south of Katoomba, at Kanangra Walls south-east of Oberon, above the Wolgan Valley north of Lithgow, and along the Nowra-Nerriga road west of Sassafras.
Notes
A distinctive and moderately species-rich group of assemblages, varying in composition with altitude and latitude. Grades locally into Sydney Sandstone Montane Dry Sclerophyll Forests on less exposed sites and Montane bogs on poorly drained soils. The most extensive class of heathland, large areas are represented in conservation reserves.
Sources
Keith & Benson (1988)
See all threatened species associated with this vegetation class
See a
list of species, populations and ecological communities
associated with the Sydney Montane Heaths vegetation class.