About Blue Mountains Native Plants
Native plants of the Blue Mountains of NSW, Australia
"The development of the vegetation cover of the Blue Mountains reflects the geologic and climatic changes that the Australian continent has undergone as well as human impact. The climate of the region has dried over millions of years and scleromorphic vegetation, dominated here by eucalypts, gradually replaced broad-leaved rainforest which retreated into suitable pockets usually in deep, damp clefts. Increased fire prevalence accompanied the spread of scleromorphic communities, possibly changing both its frequency and intensity with the arrival of Aboriginal People. At the time of European contact the plant communities of the Blue Mountains largely reflected both continental trends, and local combinations of geology, landforms, soil, microclimate, and fire regime.
Particular adaptations enable certain combinations of plants to both grow in the various habitats, and also to recover from the impact of disturbances like fire. These include such characteristics as tough leathery, or very reduced leaves to minimise water loss, underground lignotubers, rhizomes or bulbs, protective woody capsules around seeds, and the ability to resprout from epicormic buds on the trunk and branches, or from basal shoots. Community responses vary however. Plants of heaths for example, tend to withstand drier, less fertile conditions and more frequent fires than those of tall open-forests. If disturbance is too frequent and/or intense, recovery is not guaranteed. Changes wrought by our settlements which include widespread clearance, drainage and nutrient cycle alteration, weed introduction, and fire regime changes, will permanently degrade a unique flora."
From: Native Plants of the Blue Mountains by Margaret Baker and Robin Corringham,1995.
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/merryjack/3201324870/" title="Banksia serrata, flower by Merryjack, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3312/3201324870_02b3ce99d5_t.jpg" width="100" height="67" alt="Banksia serrata, flower" /></a>
I noticed your outstanding botanical image in the Blue Mountains Native Plants Group!
www.flickr.com/groups/blue_mountains_native_plants/
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I noticed your outstanding botanical image in the Blue Mountains Native Plants Group!
www.flickr.com/groups/blue_mountains_native_plants/
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