Byron Flora and Fauna Study 1999 - Byron Shire Council

BYRON FLORA AND FAUNA STUDY, 1999
included Blue Flax Lily, Climbing Guinea Flower and Breynia.
Site BB42 was located on metasediments at Broken Head. Brush Box, Blackwood, Umbrella Cheese Tree,
Camphor Laurel and Blueberry Ash were all present in the upper stratum. Guioa, Common Silkpod Parsonsia
straminea, Celerywood Polyscias elegans and Brown Bolly Gum comprised the midstratum. The lower stratum
included Lantana, Coast Banksia, Native Olive, Tuckeroo, Beach Acronychia and the introduced Red Cherry
Guava Psidium cattleianum. The ground stratum was dominated by a grass Oplismenus undulatifolius.
4.7.8 Swamp sclerophyll forest
Mixed eucalypt spp.(mE2)
(Sites PS10, P8, BB34)
Mixed eucalypt described forest with various combinations of the following species as co-dominants –
Forest Red Gum, Red Mahogany, Swamp Mahogany, Swamp Box, Flooded Gum, Tallowwood, Blackbutt,
Pink Bloodwood +/- Paperbark.
This forest usually contained species associated with swamp communities (Paperbark, Swamp Mahogany,
Swamp Box). Most mixed eucalypt forests were mapped on aeolian and alluvial soils with smaller areas
recorded on sediments, estuarine soils and basalt.
At Marshalls Creek, Site P8 was located on sediments of mixed aeolian/estuarine-alluvial origin. The upper
stratum comprised Eucalyptus robusta x tereticornis, Swamp Mahogany Eucalyptus robusta, Forest Red Gum,
Tallowwood, Flooded Gum, Pink Bloodwood and Swamp Box. The midstratum included Swamp Box,
Brush Box, Umbrella Cheese Tree, Camphor Laurel and Paperbark. The ground stratum comprised Swamp
Water Fern and Tall Saw Sedge, Settler’s Flax Gymnostachys anceps, Harsh Ground Fern and the introduced
Whisky Grass Andropogon virginicus.
At Broken Head, Mixed eucalypt forest was recorded on Pleistocene sands (BB34). The upper stratum
comprised Blackbutt, Tallowwood, Pink Bloodwood and Swamp Box. Coast Banksia, Paperbark, Blueberry
Ash and Hard Corkwood were present in the midstratum. The ground stratum included Bracken Fern,
Corky Milk-vine Marsdenia lloydii, Blue Flax Lily and Spiny-headed Mat-rush.
Paperbark (PB)
Paperbark +/- Swamp Oak Casuarina glauca /Pink-flowered Doughwood-Bangalow Palm-
Umbrella Cheese Tree
(Sites BB3, BB1, BB4, H6, PS1, PS5, PS7, PS13, PS12, PS14, PS16, PS26, P6, BB10,
BB11, LE759, LE771, BB21, P14)
The low-lying, regularly inundated acid peat areas of the region contained remnant and regrowth Paperbark
(Photo 7). Paperbark was mainly recorded on aeolian sands, swamp and alluvium. Smaller areas were mapped
on metasediments, sediments and on disturbed soils. Swamp Oak was occasional to co-dominant where
salinity increased. With build up of soil levels above regular inundation levels or where alluvial soils graded
in, Bangalow Palm, Umbrella Cheese Tree and Pink-flowered Doughwood Melicope elleryana occurred.
Paperbark was recorded on aeolian sands at Ewingsdale wetlands (Site PS1). Paperbark, Umbrella Cheese
Tree and Brown Kurrajong were present in the upper stratum. The midstratum included Bangalow Palm
and Umbrella Cheese tree and the ground stratum comprised Mistweed, Bangalow Palm and Cunjevoi
Alocasia brisbanensis.
Another site at Ewingsdale wetlands on Pleistocene sands (PS5) comprised Paperbark with Blackwood in
the upper and mid strata. The ground stratum included Swamp Water Fern and Climbing Maidenhair Fern
Lygodium microphyllum.
At Taylors Lake, Site LE771 was located on coastal (Holocene) sands. Paperbark dominated the upper
stratum. The mid and lower strata were absent. Bare Twig-rush Baumea juncea, Shield Fern Cyclosorus interruptus
and Common Reed Phragmites australis were present in the ground stratum.
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