Barrabool Hills indigenous plants

This information sheet details the indigenous plants of the Barrabool Hills.

Zone 9 consists of moderately fertile sandy loam soils on tertiary alluvial (sandstone) deposits. The gently sloping hills, some escarpments and gullies are mostly well drained. The average rainfall is 55 - 60 centimetres.

This area was characterised by a Drooping Sheoke woodland with a grassy and/or a heathy understorey largely made up of Wattle species, Silver Banksia and Sweet Bursaria.

Along the ridges and slopes Drooping Sheoke, Moonah, Cherry Ballart and Lightwood dominated the landscape while along the drainage lines Blackwood, River Red Gum, Swamp Gum and Manna Gum grew.

Along the drier sandy gully sides, species such as Manna Gum, Shrub Violet and Sweet Bursaria were found.

Unfortunately many of this area’s tree species have been cleared. White Cypress-pine, Yellow Gum and Swamp Gum can no longer be found.

Shrub species restricted to the drier areas included Kangaroo Apple, Silver Banksia, Sweet Bursaria and Giant Hop-bush. Along the lower slopes and drainage lines Silver Wattle, Hemp-bush, Prickly Tea-tree and Tangled Lignum grew.

Throughout the hills, Kangaroo Grass was present over the upper and mid slope areas. Tussock Grass would have dominated lower, wetter and south-facing slopes.

Tree Species
Common name	Botanical name	Size (H x W m)		1	2	3	4
Lightwood	Acacia implexa	5-15	4-7	Y	Y	-	Y
Blackwood	Acacia melanoxylon	5-30	4-15	Y	Y	Y	Y
Black Wattle	Acacia mearnsii	8-25	6-10	-	Y	Y	-
Golden Wattle	Acacia pycnantha	3-10	2-5	Y	Y	-	-
Drooping Sheoke	Allocasuarina verticillata	4-11	3-6	Y	Y	-	-
White Cypress-pine	Callitris glaucophylla	3-5	2-4	X	-	-	-
River Red Gum	Eucalyptus camaldulensis	12-35	15-35	-	-	-	Y
Yellow Gum	Eucalyptus leucoxylon ssp connata	10-20	6-20	X	X	X	-
Swamp Gum	Eucalyptus ovata	8-30	8-20	X	X	X	-
Manna Gum	Eucalyptus viminalis	10-20	8-15	YS	-	Y	Y
Cherry Ballart	Exocarpos cupressiformis	3-8	3-5	-	Y	Y	-
Moonah	Melaleuca lanceolata	1-8	3-6	YE	-	-	-
Shrub Species
Silver Wattle	Acacia dealbata	6-15	5-10	-	-	-	Y
Hedge Wattle	Acacia paradoxa	2-4	2-5	Y	Y	-	-
Silver Banksia	Banksia marginata	1-10	1-5	Y	Y	-	-
Sweet Bursaria	Bursaria spinosa var macrophylla	2-6	2-3	Y	Y	Y	-
Grey Parrot-pea	Dillwynia cinerascens	0.6-1.5	0.5-1.5	-	Y	-	-
Giant Hop-bush	Dodonaea viscosa	1-3	1-3	Y	Y	-	-
Hemp-Bush	Gynatrix pulchella	2-4	1.5-3	-	-	-	Y
Shrub Violet	Hymenanthera dentata	1-3	1-3	Y	Y	Y	-
Prickly Tea-tree	Leptospermum	1-4	1-2	-	-	Y	Y
Tangled Lignum	Muehlenbeckia florulenta	1-2.5	1-2	-	-	-	Y
Sticky Boobialla	Myoporum viscosum	0.5-2	1.5-2	-	Y	-	-
Kangaroo Apple	Solanum laciniatum	1-3	1-3	Y	Y	-	-
Common Boobialla	Myoporum insulare (plains form)	0.5-2	1.5-2	-	Y	-	-
Groundcover and Tussock Species
Black Anther Flax-lily	Dianella revoluta	0.3	1.5-2.0	Y	Y	-	-
Tussock Grass	Poa labillardieri	0.8	0.8	-	-	Y	Y
Kangaroo Grass	Themeda triandra	0.3	0.3	Y	Y	-	-
E - escarpments
Y - species is present in areas of remnant vegetation
X - species once occurred in this area
S - species that prefer sandy soils