Vegetation class map
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Key:
<1%
1-10%
10-50%
>50%
Estimated percentage landcover for vegetation class
Structure
Open eucalypt forest or woodland 10-25 m tall, dominated by ironbark eucalypts and cypress pines with an open sclerophyllous shrub stratum and sparse to moderate grassy groundcover.
Trees
Eucalyptus dealbata (tumbledown red gum) and E. sideroxylon (mugga) occur throughout, with the former most abundant on the poorest soils and most exposed sites. Callitris endlicheri (black cypress pine) and C. glaucophylla (white cypress pine) may be locally common. In the northern part of the range Eucalyptus chloroclada (dirty gum), E. crebra (narrow-leaved ironbark), E. melanophloia and E. nubila (blue-leaved ironbark) occur, as does Angophora leiocarpa north from Narrabri.
Shrubs
Acacia buxifolia (box-leaved wattle), A. doratoxylon (carrawang), A. gladiiformis (sword-leaved wattle), A. lineata (streaked wattle), A. triptera (spurwing wattle), Brachyloma daphnoides (daphne heath), Calytrix tetragona (fringe myrtle), Cassinia aculeata, C. arcuata, C. quinquefaria, Dillwynia sericea (egg and bacon pea), Dodonaea viscosa subsp. angustifolia, Grevillea floribunda subsp. floribunda (seven dwarfs grevillea), Hibbertia obtusifolia, H. sericea (silky hakea), Leptospermum brevipes, Leucopogon melaleucoides, Lissanthe strigosa (peach heath), Melichrus urceolatus (urn heath), Micromyrtus ciliata (fringed heath-myrtle), Notelaea microcarpa (native olive), Olearia elliptica (sticky daisy bush), Phyllanthus sp. aff. hirtellus, Pimelea neo-anglica (poison pimelea), Stypandra glauca (nodding blue lily), Xanthorrhoea australis and X. johnsonii (grass trees).
Forbs
Chrysocephalum semipapposum (clustered everlasting), Cheilanthes austrotenuifolia (rock fern), Aristida caput-medusae (many-headed wiregrass), A. jerichoensis var. jerichoensis (Jericho wiregrass), A. jerichoensis var. subspinulifera (Jericho wiregrass), A. vagans (threeawn speargrass), Austrodanthonia caespitosa (ringed wallaby grass), Austrostipa scabra var. falcata, A. scabra var. scabra (rough speargrass), A. variabilis, Cymbopogon refractus (barbed wire grass), Cyperus gracilis, Dichanthium sericeum (Queensland bluegrass), Echinopogon caespitosus, Enneapogon gracilis (slender nineawn), Enteropogon acicularis (curly windmill grass), Lomandra filiformis (wattle mat-rush), Sporobolus creber (western rats tail grass).
Habitat
Low ridges and slopes on sandstone peneplains and granite outcrops with low fertility sandy loams below 500-600 m elevation on the western slopes of the Great Divide through most of New South Wales. Mean annual rainfall exceeds 500 mm.
Distribution
Western slopes of the Great Dividing Range from Inverell district to Albury, extending east to Capertee, west to Griffith district and south into central Victoria. Extensive occurrences in the Pilliga and Dubbo areas and in Cocoparra national park near Griffith.
Notes
A widespread group of assemblages with latitudinal trends in composition and local endemism particularly in the Pilliga area. Transitional in a rainfall gradient from Tableland Dry Sclerophyll Forests in the east to Inland Rocky Hill Woodlands in the west. Also shares a number of species with Riverina Dry Sclerophyll Forests and North-west Slopes Dry Sclerophyll Forests, which occur on more fertile soils.
Sources
Clarke et al. (1995), Biddiscombe (1963); Moore (1953); Beadle (1948)
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See a
list of species, populations and ecological communities
associated with the Western Slopes Dry Sclerophyll Forests vegetation class.