THE VALLEY OF A THOUSAND PLANTS: AN INVENTORY OF THE NATIVE FLORA OF THE CATCHMENT OF DORA CREEK, NEW SOUTH WALES Terence J Annable and Howard J Fisher THE VALLEY OF A THOUSAND PLANTS: AN INVENTORY OF THE NATIVE FLORA OF THE CATCHMENT OF DORA CREEK, NEW SOUTH WALES Terence J Annable and Howard J Fisher This publication should be cited as: Annable, T. J. & Fisher, H. J. (2014). The Valley of a Thousand Plants: An Inventory of the Native Flora of the Catchment of Dora Creek, New South Wales. Cooranbong, NSW: School of Science and Mathematics, Avondale College of Higher Education. ISBN 13: 978-0-9941748-0-2 ©2014 by T.J. Annable & H.J. Fisher. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Printed by Rothfield Print and Image Management, Camperdown, NSW. Typeset in 12pt Times New Roman Cover Photo: Giant Lily (Doryanthes excelsa), July 2013. Photo by Howard Fisher. For information about how to obtain print copies of this publication, contact the Secretary, School of Science & Mathematics, Avondale College of Higher Education, P O Box 19, Cooranbong NSW 2265 or by calling 02 4980 2222 during business hours, Monday to Friday. The authors would be pleased to receive reliable reports of additional species of plants in the catchment. They may be contacted by e-mail at [email protected] ii CONTENTS Acknowledgements 2 The Authors 2 Map 1: The Catchment of Dora Creek 3 Map 2: Dora Creek Catchment and Lake Macquarie 4 The Dora Creek Catchment 5 The Inventory 8 Abbreviations 11 List 1: Alphabetic Species List by Systematic Name (Genus and Species) 12 Liverworts, Mosses, and Hornworts (Marchantiophyta, Bryophyta and Anthocerotophyta) 13 Club Mosses, Spike Mosses and Quillworts (Lycopodiophyta) 13 Ferns and Fork Ferns (Pteridophyta) 14 Cycads and Conifers (Cycadophyta and Pinophyta) 16 Flowering Plants (Magnoliophyta) 17 “Near Misses” 50 Some common introduced and naturalised flowering plant species 50 List 2: Alphabetic List of Plant Species Arranged within Families 52 List 3: Alphabetic List of Common Names 84 List 4: Endangered and Vulnerable Plant Species 107 Bibliography 109 Appendix 1: Algae, Lichens, Fungi and Slime Moulds 112 Appendix 2: “Gap” Species 114 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many individuals and organisations have contributed to the compilation of this inventory either by sharing their knowledge of local plants or by assisting with identification of specimens. The following is an alphabetic list of some of those who made a contribution: Carl Fulton, Helen Gould, Jenny Hill, Mandy McDonald, Margo Smith, Beverley Timms, Brian Timms. Members of the Newcastle branch of The Australian Plants Society shared their knowledge, and staff of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, assisted with identifications of some specimens. A number of consultancies have produced species lists in environmental impact statements for development purposes and these have proved to be very helpful. It would not have been possible to include many of the species in this inventory without having access to the data provided on-line by Atlas of Living Australia. In particular, the authors wish to thank the Australian Plants Society (Newcastle) and Dora Creek Catchment Group for their respective generous contributions to the costs of publishing this document. Lynden Rogers and Debbie Boon, School of Science and Mathematics, Avondale College of Higher Education, assisted with the logistics of publication. THE AUTHORS Terence J Annable, MSc, PhD, was full-time lecturer/senior lecturer at Avondale College of Higher Education, Cooranbong, from 1985–2009. Terry’s particular teaching interests were in the biomedical sciences including anatomy, physiology and ecophysiology. Terry studied botany at Watford Technical College in the UK prior to his migration to Australia in 1975. Since retiring from full-time employment Terry has continued to work on various research projects including the cataloguing of local species of flora and fauna and the conservation of local endangered species. Terry is a member of the Australian Plants Society and is an active member of the Cooranbong Landcare Group, a community volunteer organisation that helps improve natural habitats by removing litter, controlling noxious species and improving local biodiversity. Howard J Fisher, MScAgr, PhD, was full-time lecturer/senior lecturer at Avondale College of Higher Education, Cooranbong, from 1975–2009 inclusive. Howard’s particular teaching interests were in physical geography, especially biogeography, and in the biology and ecology of plants. Since retiring from full-time employment, among other activities Howard has continued in a part-time teaching role. For a number of years Howard was chairperson of the Dora Creek Catchment Group, a community volunteer organisation that had two principal objectives: (1) to gather information and data about the physical environment and biota of the Dora Creek catchment; and (2) to raise public awareness of the local environment and of how each person affects and could contribute to the ecological health of the catchment. 2 Map 1: The Catchment of Dora Creek Hunter R. Catchment Palmers Ck Catchment (Fennell Bay) Lords Creek Jigadee Creek Felled Timber Creek Deep Creek Dora Creek L. Eraring Runway Blarney Creek Creek Burnt Bridge Creek Stockton Creek Industrial Area Pourmalong Ck Catchment Morans Creek Wyee Ck Catchment Wyong R. Catchment (L. Macquarie) 3 Map 2: Dora Creek Catchment and Lake Macquarie N ↑ The catchment of Dora Creek is outined in yellow. Lake Macquarie lies immediately to the east of the catchment and the Pacific coast appears near the south-east margin of the map. This map was kindly provided by Dr Anthony Kiem, Senior Lecturer, School of Environmental and Life Sciences Faculty of Science and Information Technology University of Newcastle, Callaghan NSW. 4 THE DORA CREEK CATCHMENT Physical Characteristics Dora Creek catchment is located to the west of and drains into Lake Macquarie, New South Wales. With an area of 22 963 ha (229.6 km2) it is the largest tributary catchment of the lake, comprising a little more than one third of its total catchment area (640 km2, see Map 2). The waterways in the lower reaches of the catchment are subject to tidal influence. Salinity near the junction of Sandy Creek and Dora Creek may be as high as 90% of seawater during dry weather (Fisher 2004). Movement of saline water upstream is prevented by weirs on Dora Creek (near Freemans Drive in Cooranbong) and on Sandy (Jigadee) Creek (near Newport Road in Cooranbong). The majority of the catchment lies either on Quaternary Alluvium or on the Triassic Narrabeen Group. Quaternary alluvial deposits consisting mostly of sands, silts, clays and gravels occur along the major watercourses of Dora Creek and its major tributaries, Stockton Creek and Jigadee Creek. The Triassic Narrabeen Group occurs predominantly on the steep western slopes of the Catchment and includes quartz-lithic sandstone, siltstone and claystone (Murphy 1993). The topography within the Dora Creek catchment is varied. Gently undulating terrain lying mostly below 50m asl is predominant in the east, where alluvial river flats are also common. The western margin of the catchment includes part of the Watagan Mountains where the highest point in the catchment (about 450m asl) is located near the junction of Palmers Rd and Watagan Forest Road, close to the Pines Forest Picnic Area. The slopes of the catchment range from less than 3 per cent on the floodplains to more than 40 per cent in some parts of the upper catchment (Eagle et al. 1986). The annual average rainfall at Cooranbong (more-or-less in the centre of the catchment) is about 1150mm. The average January and February daily maximum temperature in the lower catchment is about 28oC. Winter frosts are experienced on low-lying cleared land in most years but are infrequent on other topography. Human Occupation The catchment of Dora Creek lies within the area once occupied by the Kurungbong people. They were mentioned in returns for Newcastle and Lake Macquarie of 1833 as one of four tribes or clans of the Aboriginal people now known as the Awabakal, a name applied by John Fraser in 1892 in his revision of Lancelot Threlkeld’s work on the language of the Aboriginal people of Hunter’s River and Lake Macquarie done in the 1830s (Maynard 2013). The number of Aboriginal people in the district declined from the 1830s as a result of conflict with the European colonists and from diseases introduced by them. The first European settlement in what is now the city of Lake Macquarie began in 1826 when Lieutenant Percy Simpson took up a grant of 2000 acres in two entitlements at Kourumbung and Eraring (Chamberlain 1997). Development of the township was given an impetus in 1861 by the passing of the New South Wales Land Act (the Robinson Act). This permitted “...the large land grants to be broken up into smaller, affordable leases for settlers...there was a vast 5 impact on the township of Coorumbung as it was very attractive to settlers because of the huge quantities of valuable timber existing in the surrounding hills” (Birch 2005). Clouten (1967) described the arrival of the timber-getters thus: “From the western perimeter of the lake to the Wattagan [sic] Mountains and beyond, the entire countryside was clothed in an apparently unending forest of trees. The New South Wales Land Act of 1861…brought many new settlers who could possess their own land, while taking an active and profitable part in the expanding timber industry. As the autumn of 1861 merged into winter, Coorumbung became a scene of busy activity. The first small- scale land sales had already taken place, and no time was being lost in clearing the land and erecting permanent dwellings.