Graham McDonald
The following are notes on plant and site descriptions of the various areas visited during an SGAP Conference held at Maroon Outdoor Education Centre at Easter time 1994.
BLACK ROCK SCRUB
This small remnant of dry vine scrub is located 13km south of Boonah. Although the scrub is small in area (less than 5ha), it contains a diverse flora of rainforest plants.
The site rests on the east-facing summit of a large hill and is totally surrounded on all sides by cleared eucalypt forest (now mostly grassed). The reason why this remnant still exists becomes obvious when the forest is entered; the soil is very rocky and thin (useless for agriculture) and on the lower scree slopes masses of broken trachyte, about the size of a small esky, trap only leaf litter. There are a few cattle tracks meandering through the scrub which is surrounded by a skirt of Lantana camara.
Over 142 species of trees, vines and herbs were recorded by L.H. Bird and P.I. Forster in January 1994. In addition to these, we managed to add the rare shrub, Notelaea lloydii; only one shrub was found, so Lloyd Bird is forgiven for missing this plant which is his namesake, and he will be pleased to know that its range has been extended.
Canthium buxifolium (Stiff Canthium), Caesalpinia subtropica (Corky Prickle Vine), Diospyros fasciculosa (Grey Ebony), Maytenus bilocularis (Orange Bark) and Polyscias elegans (Celerywood) were also recorded. The small shrub with the vicious prickles, Nyssanthes diffusa, was fairly common here.
Interesting plants found were two very large Gmelina leichhardtii (White Beech), noted for their soft white timber; a shrub with repulsive smelling leaves, Monococcus echinophorus, which I have only ever seen growing at Burleigh Heads National Park; the favourite hugging tree, Austromyrtus bidwillii (Python Tree), with its cool bark blotched with rusty brown and green; and another impressive 'bark' tree, Flindersia collina (Leopard Ash).
Plants in fruit at this time were:
Acronychia laevis
Alectryon subdentatus
Alyxia ruscifolia ssp. ruscifolia
Cassine australis
Diospyros australis
Harpullia pendula
Jasminum didymum
Maytenus bilocularis
Vitex lignum-vitae
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| Hard Aspen Acronychia laevis. Family Rutaceae. |
MT FRENCH
Picnic area and surrounds on the north summit.
Mt French is located about 9km by road from Boonah, to the west of the town. This mountain is a trachyte sill (an igneous intrusion concordant with surrounding rock strata) which has been weathered to expose the trachyte which now forms the impressive cliff faces near the picnic area. The area on top of the mountain is relatively level, with very thin skeletal clay soils, which become thinner as one progress towards the cliff faces.
Nevertheless, quite a diverse community of small trees, shrubs, herbs and heath plants struggle for existence in this adverse habitat. So dry has the climate been over the past two years (1992 & 1993) that some advanced Eucalyptus dura (Grey Ironbark) in the thinnest soils, actually died. An idea of just how tenuous is the existence of the trees is gained by observing a fallen tree with just 12cm of soil clinging to its roots. The roots appeared to go no deeper.
The open forest is dominated by Eucalyptus dura and E. acmenoides growing to about 12 metres, with an understorey of Bossiaea rupicola, Acrotriche latifolia, the rare Melaleuca groveana, with a scattering of Psychotria daphnoides. Various other plants of the understorey included Pomaderris argyrophylla, the native pennyroyal, Mentha gracilis, Dodonaea triangularis and another important find, Golden Hovea, Hovea sp. Mt. Ernest. This plant resembles Hovea longifolia, but the undersides of the leaves in particular are golden.
In the heathland areas overlooking the eastern escarpment, growing on almost bare trachyte, were the shrubs Leptospermum microcarpum, L. variabile, L. polygalifolium, Plectranthus alloplectus, Westringia eremicola, Prostanthera nivea and the very rare Comesperma brevifolium, known from only a few peaks of this region, eg. Mt Greville.
These plant communities are capable of rapid regeneration after the frequent fires which have been in evidence on this mountain.
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| Wild May Leptospermum polygalifolium. Family Myrtaceae |
MT FRENCH
South-east slopes
In contrast to the summit, this area is moister and more protected and so supports a dry vine scrub. A rough bush track leads through the lantana from the Mt French road, about 2km from the summit, and heads south into the forest. Soils here are rocky, decomposed trachyte with a high percentage of organic matter, dark brown in colour.
Some of the rainforest species found here are more typical of subtropical rainforest, eg. Alocasia brisbanensis, Diploglottis australis, Argyrodendron actinophyllum and Melicope micrococca. Hot fires have left their mark here, with scarred and healing trunks on some of the exposed Vitex lignum-vitae trees. Rare plants found included Acacia bakeri (one of only a handful of wattles which live in rainforest) and Cordyline congesta (a palm-lily).
A great diversity of vines festoon the trees, one of the most notable being Secamone elliptica, with its corky bark. This is the food plant of the blue tiger butterfly, which somehow avoids being poisoned by the copious milky latex.
Plants which our party found to add to the list compiled by L.H. Bird in August 1988 were - Citriobatus linearis, Diospyros fasciculosa, Pittosporum revolutum and Tylophora grandiflora (a small twiner).
MT CORDEAUX
Mt Cordeaux is the northern peak of Cunningham's Gap. The mountain is basically basalt which has been weathered to a rich dark brown clay loam, supporting a very diverse flora of subtropical rainforest (complex notophyll vine forest). Further west, the rain shadow becomes evident and rainforest gradually makes way for more open eucalypt forest.
Not surprisingly, no plant list for here is likely to be complete and a large number of trees, vines, shrubs and ferns were added to the list by members of our party. These included: Acmena smithii, Argyrodendron trifoliolatum, Astrotricha latifolia, Blechnum cartilagineum (fern), Calanthe triplicata (orchid), Cissus sterculiifolia, Cinnamomum oliveri, Citronella moorei, Clematis aristata (vine), Cryptocarya erythroxylon, C. foveolata, C. glaucescens, C. microneura, Cupaniopsis foveolata, Diplazium assimile (fern), Dysoxylum fraserianum, Elattostachys xylocarpa, Eustrephus latifolius (vine), Ficus watkinsiana, Geijera salicifolia, Guilfoylia monostylis, Harpullia hillii, Hibbertia scandens (vine), Hybanthus enneaspermus, Hymenosporum flavum, Lastreopsis decomposita (fern), Legnephora moorei (vine), Marsdenia flavescens (vine), Maytenus sylvestris, Neolitsea australiensis, Olea paniculata, Pandorea pandorana (vine), Pittosporum revolutum, Platycerium superbum (fern), Pyrrosia confluens (fern), Rapanea howittiana, Rhodamnia whiteana (rare), Rubus moluccanus, Rubus parvifolius, Sambucus australasica, Sterculia quadrifida, Swainsona galegifolia, Syzygium australe, S. oleosum, Zanthoxylum brachyacanthum.
These plants were found on the short loop track up Mt Cordeaux, and then down the track which follows the creek through rainforest, wet sclerophyll and finally dry sclerophyll, to the picnic area a few kilometres from "The Gap".
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| Green-leaved Moreton Bay Fig Ficus watkinsiana Family Moraceae |
POSTBOX FORD - Burnett Creek.
This delightful gorge is in the foothills to the west of the Mt Ballow complex. The gorge is cut by Burnett Creek, the main feeder for Maroon Dam.
We were given the option of walking through open forest and grass following a difficult route, or following the road and crossing the creek twice to reach the gorge. Most 'chickened out' by taking the 'dry' route and missed out on getting cold and wet, as the creek was running strongly following the recent good rains.
As we followed the creek up the gorge, the rocks became larger, the rainforest thicker and more interesting and progress became more difficult. This is one of the few areas around Boonah where the Blue Quandong, Elaeocarpus grandis, grows. This tree is more common further east, especially along creeks.
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| Silver Quandong Elaeocarpus grandis. Family Elaeocarpaceae. |
A list of 70 plant species for the gorge was compiled by Lionel Euston of the Fassifern Field Naturalists' Club and SGAP members from the Conference Committee in February 1994. A number of new species were seen on this excursion and added to the original list, These plants included: Abrophyllum ornans, Alectryon reticulatus, Aphananthe philippinensis, Aphanopetalum resinosum (vine), Arthropteris tenella (fern), Arytera divaricata, Austromyrtus bidwillii, Brachychiton populneus, Calanthe triplicata (orchid), Capparis arborea, Cayratia clematidea (vine), Cissus opaca (vine), Citronella moorei, Clerodendrum tomentosum, Croton verreauxii, Cryptocarya bidwillii, Daphnandra micrantha, Dendrobium kingianum (orchid), Derris involuta (vine), Dioscorea transversa (vine), Duboisia myoporoides, Elaeocarpus obovatus, Embelia australiana (vine), Endiandra discolor, E. muelleri, Eupomatia laurina, Euroschinus falcata, Flagellaria indica (vine), Hodgkinsonia ovatiflora, Lomandra longifolia, Lophostemon confertus, Maclura cochinchinensis (vine), Marsdenia sp. (vine), Pararchidendron pruinosum, Parsonsia latifolia (vine), Peperomia blanda var. floribunda, Pimelea neo-anglica, Rapanea variabilis, Rhodamnia rubescens, Ripogonum album (vine), R. brevifolium (vine), R. discolor (vine), Sarcomelicope simplicifolia, Sarcopetalum harveyanum (vine), Sarcopteryx stipata, Stephania japonica (vine), Syzygium australe, Tetrastigma nitens (vine), Zanthoxylum brachyacanthum, Zehneria cunninghamii.
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| Zehneria Cunninghamii. Family Cucurbitaceae. |
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