2KBlue Gum Riverflat Forest (Eucalyptus deanei)

2K Blue Gum Riverflat Forest (Eucalyptus deanei)

(2K) Blue Gum Riverflat Forest (Eucalyptus deanei)

The Blue Gum Riverflat Forest in the Blue Mountains is included within the Sydney Coastal Riverflat Forest listed as an endangered ecological community in Part 3 of Schedule 1 to the Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995.

This community is restricted to terraces of deep alluvium along larger watercourses of the lower Blue Mountains. Eucalyptus deanei (Mountain Blue Gum) is dominant and maybe almost monospecific, with occasional Angophora floribunda (Rough-barked Apple) and a small tree layer which may contain large bipinnate wattles and infrequent Allocasuarina torulosa (She-oak). The understorey is open and often dominated by grasses and/or ferns with scattered mesic shrubs becoming denser in the immediate vicinity of the watercourse.

This community superficially resembles Blue Mountains Shale Cap Forest but the two occur in different positions in the landscape.

This community is generally characterised by the almost monospecific occurrence of E. deanei along with the following assemblage of native plant species. Other species also occur, and not all of the following species are present in every stand of the community, but the list is indicative of the species composition of the vegetation.

| Acacia implexa | Acacia parramattensis | Adiantum aethiopicum | | Allocasuarina torulosa | Angophora floribunda | Backhousia myrtifolia | | Blechnum nudum | Breynia oblongifolia | Callicoma serratifolia | | Calochlaena dubia | Centella asiatica | Cynodon dactylon | | Dichondra repens | Entolasia stricta | Eucalyptus deanei | | Geitonoplesium cymosum | Glycine tabacine | Imperata cylindrica | | Kunzea ambigua | Lomandra longifolia | Melaleuca linariifolia | | Melia azedarach | Oplismenus sp. | Plectranthus parvifolia | | Pratia purpurascens | Pseuderanthemum variabile | Pteridium esculentum | | Rubus parvifolius | Sigesbeckia orientalis | Stellaria flaccida | | Sticherus flabellatus | Trema aspera | Tylophora barbata | | Veronica plebeia | | |