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HClNC Vegetation Classification & mapping Project: Volume 1: Vegetation Classification Technical Report
A summary analysis of the plant species inventory identified a total of 3647 vascular plant species
from 201 family groups. This represents approximately 61% of the New South Wales state total
(N = 5930) (Hnatiuk 1990). The most well represented family groups (as shown in Appendix 9)
were Poaceae (N = 20 597), Myrtaceae (N = 20 161), Fabaceae–Faboideae (N = 13 861), Asteraceae
(N = 12 151), Proteaceae (N = 8188), Cyperaceae (N = 7433), Fabaceae–Mimosoideae (N = 6550),
and Lomandraceae (N = 6052). Figure 4.13 illustrates the recorded frequency of species at plot
sites. A significant proportion of species have only been recorded at very few plot sites (one to
five plot sites) (39%). Only 2% of species were frequently recorded at plots sites (>500 plot sites).
The most common species, located at more than 1500 sites were Lomandra longifolia (N = 1977),
Entolasia stricta (N = 1718), Pteridium esculentum (N = 1517) and Persoonia linearis (N = 1507). The
majority of species recorded were native (94% of records).
Approximately 4% (147 species) of the vascular plant species within the HCLNC study area
were listed as threatened under either the NSW TSC Act or the Commonwealth EPBC Act or
on the Briggs and Leigh (1996) ROTAP list (Table 4.1). The majority of threatened species (104
species) were recorded at less than five plot sites.
4.1.6 Discussion
Fig 4.13. Recorded frequency of species at plot sites within the
HCLNC study area
Vegetation surveys have been completed by a variety of government and non-government
organisations for many different purposes. This vegetation project focused on collating only
full systematic vegetation surveys. A total of 183 vegetation surveys, representing over 7000
plot sites, were identified and collated. The surveys collated ranged in age and used a variety
of survey methodologies including different plot type and size, floristic information recorded,
as well as the type of cover / abundance score system used. An overview of the vegetation
survey collated for this project found that the majority of surveys conform to New South
Wales State Government practice: recording all species (i.e. full floristics) on a predefined
cover / abundance score system within a square or rectangular 0.04 ha dimension plot (Keith
& Bedward 1999). The survey methodology does vary from one survey dataset to another as
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