This community consists of a low and dense rainforest canopy of approximately four metres tall with or without tall emergent trees, a variable understorey of shrubs, ferns and graminoids and sometimes sphagnum moss.
The canopy includes A. moschatum (black sassafras), Elaeocarpus holopetalus (black oliveberry) and Quintinia sieberi (rough possumwood). Occasional emergents may include Eucalyptus dalrympleana subsp. dalrympleana(mountain gum), E. laevopinea (silver-topstringybark), E. nobilis (ribbongum), E. obliqua (messmate), E. pauciflora (snow gum), E. stellulata (black sallee), E. viminalis (ribbon gum or manna gum)and Acacia melanoxylon (blackwood). Themidstorey usually includes shorter individuals of the rainforest trees togetherwith Banksia integrifolia subsp. monticola, Callistemon pallidus2 (lemon bottlebrush), Leptospermum polygalifolium subsp. montanum (common teatree), Bursariaspinosa subsp. spinosa and sometimes tall ferns including Dicksonia antarctica (soft tree-fern) and Todea barbara (king fern). Ground layer species include Blechnum nudum, , Corybas sp. aff. longitubus, Deyeuxia gunniana, Isolepis habra, I. subtilissima, Juncus alexandri, J. laeviusculus subsp. laeviusculus, Pterostylis spp. (greenhood orchids) and Zealandia pustulata subsp. pustulata (syn. Microsorum pustulatum subsp. pustulatum; kangaroo fern). Where conditions are suitable, a peat layer forms (typically shallow), and Spagnum cristatum (sphagnum moss) is distinctive, often forming large hummocks, particularly among rocky creeklines.
Distribution
This community is highly restricted and is known only from patches within Ben Halls Gap Nature Reserve and the adjacent Ben Halls Gap State Forest, on a small plateau on the Great Dividing Range where the Mount Royal Range meets the Liverpool Range.
It is distributed across the boundary of the New England Tablelands and NSW North Coast IBRA bioregions, specifically in the Walcha Plateau and Tomalla subregions; and across the boundary of the Tamworth Regional and Upper Hunter Local Government Areas. This community occurs in patches in creeks forming the headwaters of the Barnard, Hunter and Peel Rivers.
Habitat and ecology
- Typically associated with sheltered creek lines at altitudes of approximately 1050 -1300 m above sea level (ASL), although potentially could occur at 1000 -1600 m ASL.
- Occurs in cool and seasonally wet climatic conditions, with frequent dense fog and occasional snow, on basalts mostly of the Liverpool Range or sometimes Mount Royal.
- Often associated with small bogs that are present where springs emerge on basalt benches on the mid-slopes of the plateau.
Regional distribution and habitat
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