Byron Flora and Fauna Study 1999 - Byron Shire Council

A GREENPRINT FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
Site BB45 was located west of Tallow Beach. The vegetation comprised only one stratum. Bitou Bush was
the dominant species with Lantana, Coast Wattle, the introduced Setaria Setaria sphacelata, Five-leaved Morning
Glory Ipomoea cairica, Common Morning Glory Ipomoea purpurea, and Molasses Grass also present. Coast
Banksia and Tuckeroo were emergent.
Coast Banksia (cB2)
Coast Banksia +/- subtropical rainforest spp. +/- Bitou Bush
(Site BB35)
This association was recorded on Holocene sands generally on the hind-dune. However, Site BB35 was
located on the crest of a dune at Suffolk Park. Coast Banksia dominated the canopy with Tuckeroo
subdominant. The midstratum was dominated by Bitou Bush with Blackwood and Lantana also present.
The ground stratum was dominated by the introduced Ground Asparagus Protasparagus aethiopicus and Blady
Grass with Blue Wandering Dew Commelina cyanea and Mullumbimby Couch Cynodon dactylon also present.
Horsetail She-oak-Coast Banksia-Bitou Bush (OcB)
(Site BB8)
Horsetail She-oak Casuarina equisetifolia was mapped mainly on coastal sands in close proximity to the beach.
Most of these areas were sand-mined and Horsetail Sheoak was used in post-mining rehabilitation plantings.
Site BB8 was located on the crest of the foredune at Suffolk Park. Coast Banksia was dominant in the upper
stratum with Horsetail She-oak subdominant. Horsetail She-oak dominated the midstratum with Screw
Pine Pandanus tectorius also present. Coast Wattle and Coast Banksia were present in the lower stratum. The
ground stratum included Prickly Couch Zoysia macrantha and Blady Grass.
Teatree (TT)
Teatree Leptospermum spp. +/- Baeckea Baeckea spp.
(Sites BB12, BH11, PS33)
Teatree was recorded mainly on mixed aeolian/estuarine-alluvium soils with smaller areas being mapped on
sand, rhyolite/basalt, sediments and metasediments.
An area of White’s Teatree tall shrubland was recorded on metasediments at Skinners Shoot (Site PS33).
Old-growth White’s Teatree dominated the canopy with Swamp Mahogany and Satinwood subdominant.
The midstratum included Swamp Lemon-scented Teatree Leptospermum liversidgei, Satinwood and White’s
Teatree. The lower and ground strata included Gahnia sp., Pouched Coral Fern and Feather Plant.
On Pleistocene sands adjacent to Tyagarah Nature Reserve (BH11), Swamp Lemon-scented Teatree dominated
the upper stratum of a tall shrubland with Red-fruited Saw Sedge and Heath-leaved Banksia sub-dominant.
The ground stratum included Knotted Scale-rush Lepyrodia interrupta and Sickle-leaved Boronia Boronia
falcifolia.
At Taylors Lake near Batson’s Quarry (BB12) on metasediments Swamp Lemon-scented Teatree and White’s
Teatree were co-dominant in the upper stratum of a tall shrubland. The midstratum included Dwarf Banksia,
Sickle-leaved Boronia and Red-fruited Saw Sedge. A grass tree Xanthorrhoea malacophylla, Christmas Bells
Blandfordia grandiflora, Haemodorum tenuifolium and Downy Devil’s Twine Cassytha pubescens were present in
the ground stratum.
4.7.10 Sedgeland-Fernland/Grassland (SFG)
Sedgeland-Fernland/Grassland (SFG)
(Sites BB29, BB37, BB46)
Sedgeland-Fernland/Grassland was largely recorded on aeolian sands.
This association is usually maintained by regular firing. When fire is absent, sedgeland and fernland in
Byron Shire tend to develop into Paperbark forest. There are few areas of native grassland in
Byron Shire with the exception of some areas of Kangaroo Grass on coastal headlands and of Sand Couch
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