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  • 21 Aug, 2019

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Sydney Sandstone Ridgetop Woodland

The Sydney Sandstone Ridgetop Woodland, also known as Coastal Sandstone Ridgetop Woodland and Hornsby Enriched Sandstone Exposed Woodland, is a shrubby woodland and mallee community situated in northern parts of Sydney, Australia, where it is found predominantly on ridgetops and slopes of the Hornsby Plateau, Woronora Plateau and the lower Blue Mountains area. It is an area of high biodiversity, existing on poor sandstone soils, with regular wildfires, and moderate rainfall.

Geography

Walk track within scrubby formation

The Ridgetop Woodland is a low eucalypt forest having a diverse sclerophyll shrub layer, mallees and open groundcover of sedges that sit on the Triassic Hawkesbury sandstone plateaux, which encircle the Sydney Basin. The community is found in areas where the average annual rainfall ranges from 850mm to 1650mm.

Around one-quarter of this community has been cleared for urban development, though many areas still remain in conservation reserves. 75-90% of the vegetation zone remains.

Scope

It incorporates Coastal Sandstone Ridgetop Woodland, which is found up to 600m above sea level in areas receiving an average annual rainfall ranging from 850 to 1650 mm. It then grades into heath (e.g. Coastal Sandstone Plateau Heath) where soils become more shallow.

In the upper Blue Mountains it is supplanted by Blue Mountains Ridgetop Woodland on the more raised Narrabeen Sandstone, on sandy loams, where there it will grade into the Blue Mountains and Southern Highlands Basalt Forests further west. Coastal Sand plain Heath occurs at Wottamolla, Royal National Park.

Flora

The area is dominated by Corymbia eximia and Eucalyptus sieberi, which shape a sporadic overstorey enclosed with large shrubs such as Banksia serrata, Leptospermum trinervium and Hakea dactyloides. Smaller shrubs including Leucopogon setiger and Dillwynia floribunda are salient towards the edge of the rock shelf.

Selected plant species of Sydney Sandstone Ridgetop Woodland
Common name Botanical name Approx. height Plantnet
Tree species
Narrow-leaved Apple Angophora bakeri to 6 metres details
Sydney red gum Angophora costata to 15 metres details
Yellow bloodwood Corymbia eximia to 15 metres details
Red bloodwood Corymbia gummifera to 15 metres details
Scribbly Gum Eucalyptus haemastoma to 12 metres details
Dwarf Apple Angophora hispida to 5 metres details
Sydney peppermint Eucalyptus piperita to 15 metres details
Scribbly Gum Eucalyptus racemosa to 15 metres details
Scalybark Eucalyptus squamosa to 15 metres details
Stringybark Eucalyptus oblonga to 12 metres details
Grey gum Eucalyptus punctata to 15 metres details
Stringybark Eucalyptus oblonga to 15 metres details
Narrow-leaved Stringybark Eucalyptus sparsifolia to 15 metres details
Sunshine wattle Acacia terminalis to 6 metres details
Black she-oak Allocasuarina littoralis to 6 metres details
Old man banksia Banksia serrata to 8 metres details
Silver banksia Banksia marginata to 8 metres details
She-oak Allocasuarina distyla to 4 metres details
Shrub species
Sweet scented wattle Acacia suaveolens to 2.5 metres details
Heath banksia Banksia ericifolia to 5 metres details
Hairpin banksia Banksia spinulosa to 3 metres details
Sydney boronia Boronia ledifolia to 1.5 metres details
Bossiaea Bossiaea rhombifolia to 2 metres details
Bossiaea Bossiaea lenticularis to 1 metre details
Long Leaf Smokebush Conospermum longifolium to 2 metres details
Eggs and Bacon Dillwynia retorta to 3 metres details
Wedge pea Gompholobium grandiflorum to 1 metre details
Red spider flower Grevillea speciosa to 3 metres details
Tea tree Leptospermum trinervium to 4 metres details
Pink kunzea Kunzea capitata to 2 metres details
Mountain devil Lambertia formosa to 2 metres details
Red rusty petals Lasiopetalum rufum to 1 metre details
Phebalium Phebalium squamulosum to 7 metres details
Crinkle bush Lomatia silaifolia to 2 metres details
Stalked Conestick Petrophile pedunculata to 2.5 metres details
Purple mirbelia Mirbelia speciosa to 1 metre details
Ground covers
Flannel flower Actinotus helianthi details
Sedge Cyathochaeta diandra details
Sreading flax lily Dianella revoluta details
Wiry panic Entolasia stricta details
Scale rush Lepyrodia scariosa details
Pale mat rush Lomandra glauca details
Twisted mat rush Lomandra obliqua details
Silky Purple-flag Patersonia sericea details
Other species (amongst hundreds of others)

See also

References

  1. ^ "Sydney Sandstone Ridgetop Woodland". Northern Beaches Council. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
  2. ^ "Urban Bushland in the Ryde LGA - Sydney Sandstone Ridgetop Woodland" (PDF). Ryde Council. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
  3. ^ "Ecological communities Sydney Sandstone Ridgetop Woodland". Ku-ring-gai Council. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
  4. ^ "Duffys Forest Ecological Community in the Sydney Basin Bioregion - profile". New South Wales Department of Environment and Heritage. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
  5. ^ DSF p131: Coastal Sandstone Ridgetop Woodland
  6. ^ DSF p131: Coastal Sandstone Ridgetop Woodland Cunninghamia 11(3): 2010

33°37′5.45″S 151°15′30.82″E / 33.6181806°S 151.2585611°E / -33.6181806; 151.2585611