VOLUME 2: Vegetation Community Profiles - Coffs Harbour City ...

CH_FW05Floristic summaryLayer Height Cover % Dominant SpeciesTallest 2 – 5 10 - 50 Melaleuca sieberi, Melaleuca nodosa, Allocasuarina littoralis,Lophostemon suaveolens.Middle 0.6 – 2 40 - 70 Hakea actites, Banksia spinulosa var collina, Gahnia sieberiana,Pultenaea villosa.Lower 0.01 - .6 60 - 100 Ptilothrix deusta, Drosera spatulata, Xanthorrhoea fulva.* Data collated form 3 of 3 full floristic sitesStructural and floristic variationsMullaway Needle Bush (Hakea actites) is a dominant shrub in unburnt heath and shrublands at Moonee BeachNature Reserve and Garby Nature Reserve. Kangaroo Grass (Themeda australis) may be abundant in areas wherethis community grades into clay heath. Structurally, this community can vary from a heathland or a shrubland toan open woodland or forest. Some of the polygons for this community map areas of open forest.Species richnessNumber of plots 3Total species 18Average number of species 26 ±12Conservation statusThis community is reserved in Bongil Bongil National Park (9ha) Coffs Coast Regional Park (7ha), Garby NatureReserve (17ha), Moonee Beach Nature Reserve (34ha) and Yuraygir National Park (45ha).TenureArea (ha)Crown Land 3Freehold 39National Park 54Nature Reserve 30NSW State Forest 12Regional Park 7TOTAL 145Relationship to other communitiesSome polygons contain a mix of CH_FW05 and CH_FrW09 (Coastal Wallum Swamp Mahogany Sieber’s PaperbarkForest). CH_FrW09 is floristically very similar to CH_FW05 and was mapped to delineate areas of woodlandto open forest overstorey of Swamp Mahogany (Eucalyptus robusta) or Red Mahogany (E. resinifera subsp.hemilampra) whereas CH_FW05 was mapped to delineate shrubland to heathland areas. CH_FW05 shares manyspecies in common with CH_FW02 (Coastal Wallum Paperbark Banksia Grass Tree Wet Heathland), but CH_FW05differs in having a co-dominance of Sieber’s Paperbark (Melaleuca sieberi), Mullaway Needlebush (Hakea actites)and Prickly-leaved Melaleuca (Melaleuca nodosa).EquivalentsBiometric:(NR278) Wet heathland and shrubland of coastal lowlands of the North CoastOther: SG5502 Wet Heath/Shrubland (Fisher et al. 1996)Page 312Vegetation Mapping of the Coffs Harbour Local Government Area