Black Mountain A NATURAL HISTORY OF A CANBERRA ICON 3

2 Black Mountain: a natural history of a Canberra icon 3 Vegetation

Context Canberra – and thus Black Mountain – lies within the Southern Tablelands of , which in general means cold winters, hot summers and moderate rainfall occurring all year round. More specifically, the adjacent weather station at the Australian National Botanic Gardens, which has operated since 1968, gives an average annual rainfall over that time of 688 mm, with extremes of 328 mm in 1982 and 1033 mm in 1974. There is no real wet or dry season; the driest month is June (47.8 mm mean) and the wettest is November (77.9 mm mean). The nearest long-term temperature records are from the Canberra Airport, 8.5 kilometres to the east; here the mean annual maxima and minima are 19.70C and 6.50C. The coldest average nights are in July (mean minimum -0.10C) and the hottest average days are in January (mean maximum 280C). Over the recording period (1939 to 2010) the temperature ranged over an impressive 520C (from 420C to -100C), but in most years the range has historically been about 400C.

Table 3.1 Black Mountain’s Climate

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Annual Mean rainfall (mm) at the Australian National Botanic Gardens (1968–2018) 64.0 63.6 55.6 49.9 45.4 47.8 50.8 54.5 61.8 63.8 77.9 59.7 688 Mean maximum temperate (0C) at Canberra Airport (1939–2018) 28.2 27.2 24.6 20.1 15.6 12.4 11.5 13.2 16.4 19.7 23.1 26.3 19.9 Mean minimum temperate (0C) at Canberra Airport (1939–2018) 13.2 13.1 10.7 6.6 3 1 -0.1 0.9 3.2 6.1 8.9 11.5 6.5

At a regional level these are the factors which determine the maximum biomass of vegetation which is possible, likely growth forms and plant species richness. At finer scales – say on Black Mountain itself – the geology, slope and aspect (the direction of the slope) determine local microclimates and soil conditions, and it is these which ultimately determine the actual plant species composition. Onto this must be added the locally unique further complicating factors of disturbances which may arise from fire, drought, storms, human clearing, weeds, feral animals or diseases.

Black Mountain: a natural history of a Canberra icon 3 Veg. type 1: Red Stringybark – Scribbly Gum open Veg. type 2a: Scribbly Gum – Red Stringybark (large forest with a Red-anthered Wallaby Grass ground layer. stem sizes) open forest with a Red-anthered Wallaby Grass ground layer.

Veg. type 2b: Scribbly Gum – Red Stringybark (small Veg. type 3: Red Box open forest with a low shrub stem sizes) and a sparse low shrub layer. layer of Silver Teatree.

All these disturbance factors have had Plant Patterns of an impact on Black Mountain in the last century or so, and include the impacts Black Mountain of severe drought (1965), storm (2007), There have been various attempts to Phytophthora dieback (after a wet define Australian vegetation types and summer in 1969-70), thinning and firewood structures. One highly respected one collection (into the 1960s and over much of is that of Professor Raymond Specht in the mountain except for the steepest and 1981; by that definition Black Mountain is highest slopes) and clearing (small areas dominated by Open Forest. This is a pretty on the lower eastern and southern slopes broad definition, as we might expect from in the late 19th century). In each case the a continent-wide system. More recently, affected areas recovered in time, or are David Keith of the NSW National Parks still doing so. The impacts of weeds are and Wildlife Service, now the Department discussed later in this chapter, and of feral of Environment and Conservation, animals and fire in chapters four and six. produced a more finely-tuned model for

4 Vegetation Veg. type 4: Broad-leaved Peppermint open forest Veg. type 5: Woodland with a large old-growth with scattered Burgan shrubs. Apple Box tree and a Burgan shrub layer.

Veg. type 5: Grassland of native herbs formed where Veg. type 6: Grassland of introduced herbs formed the Eucalyptus trees have been cleared from grassy where Red Stringybark, Scribbly Gum open forest woodland. has been cleared.

NSW and the ACT. By his model Black drier western slopes of the Great Dividing Mountain represents Southern Tablelands Range south from Mudgee to the Murray Dry Sclerophyll Forests, characterised (and into ); Black Mountain is a by Eucalyptus trees less than 20 metres good—and accessible—example of the high, including species of scribbly gums, vegetation type, but is certainly not unique. peppermints and stringybarks. The shrubby understoreys have relatively In 1969 Peter Coyne, then an Honours few species, which are dominated by Student at the Australian National scattered wattles, peas and heaths University, used aerial photography and interspersed with open spaces supporting ground transects to describe and map tussock grasses. This is a pretty fair vegetation types on Black Mountain based description of the Black Mountain forests. on the number and diameter of tree stems However it’s important to note that the 1.2 metres above ground level. In this way Southern Tablelands Dry Sclerophyll he described four Open Forest structures Forests are found in a broad swathe on the (subdividing one of them) plus one

Black Mountain: a natural history of a Canberra icon 5 Table 3.2 Vegetation Types of Black Mountain (adapted from Peter Coyne)

Type Structure Dominant species Main occurrence and notes

1 Open Forest Red Stringybark (Eucalyptus Grows on cooler, moister macrorhyncha) and Scribbly Gum south-facing slopes of (E. rossii), with some Brittle Gum 150–300. (E. mannifera), Broad-leaved Peppermint (E. dives) and Apple Box (E. bridgesiana).

2a Open Forest Scribbly Gum and Red Stringybark Northerly slopes. (large stem sizes), with some Red Box (E. polyanthemos).

2b Open Forest Scribbly Gum and Red Stringybark Gentle northern slope areas (small stem sizes), with some Brittle and also on steep slopes Gum, Broad-leaved Peppermint west of the summit. and Yellow Box (E. melliodora)

3 Open Forest Red Box, with some Red Stringybark, Found on dry exposed Scribbly Gum, Brittle Gum and north-west to west-facing Blakely’s Red Gum (E. blakelyi). slopes.

4 Open Forest Broad-leaved Peppermint. South-facing slopes.

5 Woodland Blakely’s Red Gum and Yellow Box. Broad depressions marking drainage lines at altitudes below 640 metres.

6 (new) Grassland Introduced grasses and herbs. South-eastern slopes below ANBG viewing platform.

Woodland structure as shown in Table 3.2. Red Stringybark and Scribbly Gum but He went on to propose a management while both species can be found on both plan for the mountain—pioneering stuff sheltered southern and exposed northern in those days. While the thesis has never slopes, the stringybark strongly prefers the been published, it remains the best sheltered situations and the gum the drier description of the area’s vegetation types. sides. This corresponds to their respective tolerances to higher temperatures and Vegetation types 1 and 2 have the same water stress as revealed in laboratory two dominant species but the reversed experiments. Of the four other main order indicates a reversal in their relative eucalypt species in the forest, only Red Box dominance. Type 2 has two subtypes that prefers the northern slopes, while Brittle are essentially restricted to northerly slopes, Gum, Broad-leaved Peppermint and Apple but extend over the crests of east‑west Box favour the more sheltered aspects and/ spurs onto the upper southerly slopes. or gentler slopes.

Types 1-3 dominate the Black Mountain Vegetation Type 4, dominated by forests; a walk around the Forest Loop, Broad‑leaved Peppermint, occurs as which circumnavigates the mountain a a pure stand on a very steep shady little below the summit, is an excellent south‑facing slope above Lake Burley introduction to them and illustrates nicely Griffin. Elsewhere on the mountain this the changes with aspect. In summary, the species occurs as scattered trees along most abundant trees on the mountain are some creek lines on the lower slopes.

6 Vegetation Vegetation Type 5, dominated by Blakely’s Rosemary this text is added in order to Red Gum and Yellow Box, is the only fill space - we will figure out the layout woodland type on Black Mountain. On once we have final text - but this just to the lower south west side of the reserve get a sense of overall style. At first glance, (which Coyne excluded from his study) other than the Type 5 woodland, the tree- it grades into grassland which was formed defined vegetation types seem not to when the original grassy woodland be strongly reflected in the understorey. vegetation in an area known as Smith’s The shrub layer is dominated throughout Paddock was cleared for grazing. Almost by Narrow-leaved Bitterpea (Daviesia none of this grassy woodland is left intact mimosoides). within Black Mountain Nature Reserve. erb layer by the large tussocks of An area on the south‑east side of the Red‑anther Wallaby Grass (Rytidosperma mountain, also excluded by Coyne and pallidum). However there are preferences now located in the ANBG’s southern here too. Overall the Narrow-leaved annex and called the Bushland Precinct, Bitterpea grows preferentially on the is grassland (Veg. type 6) resulting from southern aspect, as do the other relatively Red Stringybark, Scribbly Gum open forest common shrubs Prickly Broom Heath being clearing for grazing. (Monotoca scoparia) and Box-leaved At first glance, other than the Type 5 Wattle (Acacia buxifolia). On the other woodland, the tree-defined vegetation hand, of other species studied, Thyme types seem not to be strongly reflected Spurge (Phyllanthus hirtellus), Small‑leaved in the understorey. The shrub layer is Parrot-Pea (Dillwynia phylicoides), Bushy dominated throughout by Narrow-leaved Needlewood (Hakea decurrens), and Bitterpea (Daviesia mimosoides) and Ivy Goodenia (Goodenia hederacea) are the herb layer by the large tussocks of more likely to be found on the hotter Red‑anther Wallaby Grass (Rytidosperma north‑facing slopes. On sheltered southern pallidum). However there are preferences aspects the Red-anther Wallaby Grass is here too. joined by the smaller tussocks of Common Snow Grass (Poa sieberiana) and on Overall the Narrow-leaved Bitterpea grows some of the most exposed northern preferentially on the southern aspect, as do aspects in the north-west corner of the other relatively common shrubs Prickly the mountain, it is replaced by Narrow Broom Heath (Monotoca scoparia) and Swordsedge (Lepidosperma gunnii). There Box-leaved Wattle (Acacia buxifolia). On is more on the component species of the the other hand, of other species studied, Black Mountain forests in chapter 4. Thyme Spurge (Phyllanthus hirtellus), Small‑leaved Parrot-Pea (Dillwynia Dominated by Blakely’s Red Gum and phylicoides), Bushy Needlewood (Hakea Yellow Box, is the only woodland type on decurrens), and Ivy Goodenia (Goodenia Black Mountain. On the lower south west hederacea) are more likely to be found side of the reserve (which Coyne excluded on the hotter north‑facing slopes. On from his study) it grades into grassland sheltered southern aspects the Red-anther which was formed when the original grassy Wallaby Grass is joined by the smaller woodland vegetation in an area known as tussocks of Common Snow Grass (Poa was cleared for grazing. Almost none of sieberiana) and on some of the most this grassy woodland is left intact within exposed northern aspects in the north- Black Mountain Nature Reserve. An area west corner of the mountain, it is replaced on the south‑east side of the mountain, by Narrow Swordsedge (Lepidosperma also excluded by Coyne and now located gunnii). There is more on the component in the ANBG’s southern) resulting from species of the Black Mountain forests in Red Stringybark, Scribbly Gum open forest chapter 4. being clearing for grazing.

Black Mountain: a natural history of a Canberra icon 7 Conclusion Canberra – and thus Black Mountain – lies the tree-defined vegetation types within the Southern Tablelands of New seem not to be strongly reflected in the South Wales, which in general means understorey. The shrub layer is dominated cold winters, hot summers and moderate throughout by Narrow-leaved Bitterpea rainfall occurring all year round. More (Daviesia mimosoides) and the herb specifically, the adjacent weather station layer by the large tussocks of Red‑anther at the Australian National Botanic Gardens, Wallaby Grass (Rytidosperma pallidum). which has operated since 1968, gives an However there are preferences here too. average annual rainfall over that time of Overall the Narrow-leaved Bitterpea grows 688 mm, with extremes of 328 mm in preferentially on the southern aspect, as do 1982 and 1033 mm in 1974. There is no real the other relatively common shrubs Prickly wet or dry season; the driest month is Broom Heath (Monotoca scoparia) and June (47.8 mm mean) and the wettest is Box-leaved Wattle (Acacia buxifolia). November (77.9 mm mean). The nearest On the other hand, of other species long-term temperature records are from studied, Thyme Spurge (Phyllanthus the Canberra Airport, 8.5 kilometres to the hirtellus), Small‑leaved Parrot-Pea east; here the mean annual maxima and (Dillwynia phylicoides), Bushy Needlewood minima are 19.70C and 6.50C. (Hakea decurrens), and Ivy Goodenia The coldest average nights are in July (Goodenia hederacea) are more likely (mean minimum -0.10C) and the hottest to be found on the hotter north‑facing average days are in January (mean slopes. On sheltered southern aspects the maximum 280C). Over the recording Red-anther Wallaby Grass is joined by the period (1939 to 2010) the temperature smaller tussocks of Common Snow Grass ranged over an impressive 520C (from (Poa sieberiana) and on some of the most 420C to -100C), but in most years the range exposed northern aspects in the north. has historically been about 400C. At first There is more on the component species of glance, other than the Type 5 woodland, the Black Mountain forests in chapter 4.

MAP 4 Legend

Red Stringybark and Scribbly Gum Broad-leaved Peppermint Open Forest Open Forest Broad-leaved Peppermint, sometimes Red Stringybark and Scribbly Gum with Red Stringybark. with some Brittle Gum, Broad‑leaved Peppermint and Apple Box. Grassy Woodland and associated Grassland Scribbly Gum and Brittle Gum Open Forest Blakely’s Red Gum, Yellow Box and Scribbly Gum and Brittle Gum with Apple Box, sometimes with Red Box and Red Stringybark, and sometimes with Broad-leaved Peppermint. Grassland Red Box, Broad-leaved Peppermint present in the south-west is where the or Yellow Box. The two gum species trees were removed in the 1800s. occur in varying ratios, with Brittle Gum sometimes dominant. Grassland derived from cleared Open Forest Red Box Open Forest Introduced grasses and herbs where Red Box with some Red Stringybark, Red Stringybark and Scribbly Gum Open Scribbly Gum and Brittle Gum, and on Forest was cleared in the 1800s. lower slopes also with scattered Blakely’s Red Gum or Yellow Box.

Black Mountain: a natural history of a Canberra icon MAP 4 Vegetation of Black Mountain N

Bel conn en Way D r y a n d r a

S

t

r

e

e t

F

r

i

t

h

R

o

a

d

e

v i

r Frith D R

oa l

l d

e

w s

a

C Black Australian Mountain National 812 m Botanic Gardens

e v r i D n nta i Mou ck t la e B e tr S s s o R s ie n lu C

ay Parkes W LakeLake BurleyBurley GriffinGriffin LakeLake BurleyBurley GriffinGriffin

Old road 0 100 200 300 400 500 metres Management road Walking path/track 9 DID YOU KNOW Identifying Black Mountain’s native eucalypts using bark and leaves

With more than 800 species of eucalypt to distinguish Bark fibrous at base of trunk (which in the ACT means just Eucalyptus, but (sometimes extending higher up), elsewhere includes the very closely related genera smooth on branches Angophora and Corymbia) some assistance is needed to break the problem down to a manageable size. Adult leaves dull bluish-green, broadly oval-shaped; Bark type is a useful aid for this. upper branches often twisted Most of us would probably not list oozing sap as a key distinguishing factor of eucalypts, but several early European reporters on did just that. Abel Tasman back in 1642 in van Diemen’s Land was intrigued by it and collected samples, suggesting that his interest was at least partly commercial. Later that century the English pirate-naturalist William Dampier reported that ‘the Gum distils out of the knots or cracks that are in the bodies of the trees’. Governor Arthur Phillip, who commanded the first British colony on what is now Sydney Harbour, first used the term ‘gum-tree’ in 1770; he too collected this gum, and send samples back home. Today we use ‘gum’ properly for smooth-barked eucalypts (though it is also sometimes a catch-all term). All eucalypts shed their bark, but gums do so annually and pretty much all at once (though in fact some retain patches of rougher or darker old bark). Brittle Gum and Adult leaves dull green, lance-shaped; Scribbly Gum are common on Black Mountain. upper branches straight The various rough-barked eucalypts also shed their bark, but in fragments over time. Three of these rough-barked groups can be found on Black Mountain. Boxes (named not for containers but because of a perceived similarity of their hard timber to unrelated European Buxus species) tend to have bark in plates or narrow blocks. Red Box and Apple Box on the mountain fit this description, but Yellow Box is a bit more problematic, being more variable and having sometimes quite fibrous bark at the base of their trunks. Nature never feels constrained by our attempts to simplify things. Stringybarks have fibrous bark which peels off in long strips, which the bark of Red Stringybark certainly does. Peppermints on the other hand MUF also have fibrous bark, but the fibres are short and readily crumble. (The group is named for the foliage, or rather one of the pungent oils in the leaves.) Both these characteristics are present in Broad- leaved Peppermint on the mountain. Rough‑barked eucalypt groups also include ironbarks and bloodwoods, but neither occur naturally on Black Mountain.

10 Vegetation Bark smooth throughout trunk and branches, white to greyish

Bark with brown scribbles Bark surface powdery and easily Bark without scribbles and and compression ridges; buds rubbed off; buds egg-shaped compression ridges, not powdery; club‑shaped buds spindle-shaped

MUF Scribbly Gum (Eucalyptus rossii) Brittle Gum Blakely’s Red Gum (Eucalyptus mannifera) (Eucalyptus blakelyi)

Bark rough on trunk and branches, pale to dark grey or brownish

Bark fibrous and stringy, with Bark shortly crumbly, grey to grey- Bark rough and scaly, grey; juvenile reddish-brown fissures; juvenile brown; juvenile leaves stalkless, leaves stalkless, dull bluish-green leaves green, shortly stalked, bluish-green with a white bloom, with a white bloom, circular to surface bristly broadly lance-shaped heart-shaped

MUF

Red Stringybark Broad-leaved Peppermint Apple Box (Eucalyptus macrorhyncha) (Eucalyptus dives) (Eucalyptus bridgesiana)

Black Mountain: a natural history of a Canberra icon 11 Defining some plant terms

In writing about , it is necessary to use Flower parts are in multiples of three. Grasses, sedges, terminology which, while familiar to people who orchids and lilies are important local monocots. regularly encounter it in the course of work or Cryptogam. This is a historic term, still widely private interest, will not necessarily be part of used for convenience though we now know that everyone’s daily vocabulary. Here are a few such many cryptogams aren’t even plants. It refers concepts, which appear regularly in this book, to plants (and others) that reproduce by explained at a fairly basic level. spores rather than seeds. Plant cryptogams Vascular Plants. Most of the plants with which include ferns, mosses, liverworts, hornworts we’re familiar have complex ‘plumbing’ systems, and some algae. Others include fungi, 4 to enable water, minerals and products of lichens and other algae. photosynthesis (sugars) to be transported from Fern. Ferns comprise an ancient group of foliage and roots to wherever they are required. plants, predating all seed-bearing plants. Such plants include angiosperms (flowering They are characterised by a complex system of plants), gymnosperms (a loose grouping including alternating generations. The plant we refer to as conifers and cycads), ferns and a couple of minor a fern is the non-sexual form, which reproduces groups (horsetails and clubmosses, not in the ACT). by spores under the leaves. These spores drop Non-vascular Plants. ‘All the rest’, which lack and produce little green disc-like plants called the complex systems of vascular plants, though gametophytes which produce eggs and mobile may still have tissues which conduct water. There sperm which swim through the wet substrate. are two basic groups, one comprising mosses, That union forms the new fern plant. liverworts and hornworts, and the other consisting Fungi. These are in fact more closely related to of several very disparate groups of algae. animals than plants though they form their own Dicots. Flowering plants are traditionally divided Kingdom. Traditionally however they have been into two main groupings, dicots and monocots, included in the broad field of botany (e.g. they are ‘cot’ being an abbreviation for cotyledon. This subject to the same international taxonomic rules is an embryonic leaf which is the first to emerge and are stored and studied in herbaria). They do from the seed after germination to commence not photosynthesise but feed by exuding enzymes photosynthesis; unsurprisingly dicots have two to dissolve nutrients which they absorb. The main of these and monocots just one. While this can organism is hidden in the soil or living or dead readily be seen if you germinate a bean seed plant (and animal) material and comprises a mass (dicot) and a wheat or rice seed (monocot) on the of thread-like hyphae which gather nutrients. The window sill, it’s not a very useful determining structure that we call a fungus is the ephemeral factor in the wild. There are however many other spore-producing body. characters which collectively readily distinguish Lichens. A lichen is a remarkable combination them. Fifty percent of dicots are woody (trees, of a fungus and an alga, growing in symbiosis in shrubs, or woody creepers and climbers); they consistent combinations which are described as generally have branched stems and stalked leaves, species. The fungus provides the structure and with a network of leaf veins. Their floral parts are dissolved nutrients, and the alga feeds them both usually in sets of four or five and their plumbing through photosynthesis. The fungus in particular system is arrayed in concentric rings in the stem. can no longer live alone. Stems display secondary growth—they add layers Native vs Exotic. ‘Native’ can be a surprisingly to get thicker as they age. (For the record it is ambiguous term—for some Australians it now widely believed that the dicots comprise two implies broadly an organism that lives naturally separate groups, but for most practical field use somewhere in Australia, but an ecologist is more that’s pretty academic.) likely to restrict the term to a species which occurs Monocots. These are rarely woody (exceptions naturally in the area of interest. In that sense any include palms and sugar cane) and where they species not growing naturally on Black Mountain are their plumbing system is in scattered bundles is exotic, or a weed. To avoid confusion, we have through the stem, not in concentric rings like the here used ‘native’ to refer to a plant which grows dicots. Moreover, monocots have no secondary naturally on Black Mountain, ‘exotic’ for a growth. Leaves don’t have obvious separate from outside Australia, and ‘native weed’ for an stalks and many are ‘grassy’ with parallel veins. established species from elsewhere in Australia.

12 Plants 4 Plants

The Cast: plants of Black Mountain Diversity Across the Mountain The number of species of any group of organisms recorded from a given area is a function of the number of species actually present but is also strongly dependent on the number of observers. This is certainly true of the plant life of Black Mountain. It is almost certain that no equivalent sized area of the ACT has been as thoroughly and consistently investigated by plant collectors (especially with regard to vascular plants) as has Black Mountain since the first herbarium specimen was collected there in October 1927. It is literally just over the back fence from both the Australian National Botanic Gardens and various CSIRO divisions, as well as just across the road from the Australian National University, all of which teem with scientists, including biologists and earth scientists.

The work of the botanists (see chapter 6) provides considerable confidence in our knowledge of the mountain. It tells us that while the total number of vascular species recorded is relatively high compared with those of similar areas elsewhere, this is largely due to high survey efforts. For those very few studies in the region where similar search efforts have been expended in comparable habitats, it seems that Black Mountain’s diversity in terms of vascular native species per hectare (even for orchids, for which Black Mountain is renowned) is not especially high. It is very similar to that of Mulligans Flat in the north of the ACT and only around half that of a private property near Boro, some 53 kilometres to the east of Canberra.

Closer to home both the number of native species recorded from Mount Ainslie–Majura and their density (i.e. species per hectare) are much lower than for Black Mountain, for which 393 native species have been recorded from 1927 to 2017. Ainslie–Majura, less than six kilometres away peak to peak, has only 270 species in more than double the area, at a quarter the density. However, this difference seemingly is reflecting different search efforts: while there are 3,300 herbarium specimens from Black Mountain, only 450 exist from Ainslie–Majura. It is worth noting that while herbarium specimens remain the largest source of confirmed records, Canberra Nature Map records are becoming increasingly significant.

Black Mountain: a natural history of a Canberra icon 13 The total number of vascular species currently present (i.e. verifiably reported in the decade 2007–2017), both native and exotic to Black Mountain, is 593 (Fig. 4.1); native species comprise just 56% of the total.

Native to BM Not native to BM Total

593

400

334

259 214 186 172 132

40 14 3 17 2 2 4

Flowering Flowering Ferns Conifers All species plants: plants: dicots monocots Figure 4.1 Confirmed numbers of species on Black Mountain, 2007–2017.

In terms of growth form, of current vascular Aquatic (2) species 34% are woody (comprising shrubs, Ferns (17) Trees (42) trees, subshrubs and mistletoes), 32% are forbs (i.e. herbs that are not grasses or Graminoids Shrubs (103) grass-like) and 29% are grasses (members (130) of the family Poaceae) and graminoids (grass-like plants, notably rushes and sedges, plus some lilies etc) (Fig. 4.2). The remaining 5% are ferns, climbers and aquatic plants. Only 47 species (both native and exotic), just 8% of the total, have a widespread distribution across the mountain. However, 341 species, 58% of the total, have distributions that are described as restricted or very restricted. Grasses (68) If you’ve never seen macrofungi or Forbs (191) Climbers (11) non‑vascular plants on Black Mountain, Mistletoes (3) then don’t worry, you’re not alone! They are often very small (and easily missed) or Subshrubs (26) only present during moist conditions, and we have far less knowledge about them Figure 4.2 Number of vascular plant than we do about vascular plants. The species in each growth form first herbarium collection of any of these on Black Mountain.

14 Plants organisms on Black Mountain is dated Hornworts and Liverworts (24) 1952 (25 years after the first vascular plant Macrofungi Mosses (125) collections). While over 200 people have (50) contributed vascular plant specimens to the Australian National Herbarium, only seven have focused on collecting from this non-vascular ‘group’ of organisms. Another way of examining this is via number of specimens. A startling 77% of these species are represented by just one record, and half of the rest by less than five. Over the decade from 2007 to 2017 just twenty species of these combined groups were collected. But isn’t this a reflection of their relatively minor occurrence? In a word, no. Based on Australian National Herbarium Lichens (114) specimens, Canberra Nature Map photographs and the advice of Heino Lepp, Figure 4.3 Confirmed numbers of long‑term Australian National Herbarium non‑vascular cryptogam species Associate specialising in macrofungi on Black Mountain. and cryptogams, at least 313 species are known to occur on Black Mountain least equivalent to the number of native (Fig. 4.3), although nobody thinks that vascular plants present. these figures are comprehensive. Some of the herbarium specimens are only In the same way that the high number identified to level, and Lepp expects of vascular plants recorded is in large at least another 25 macrofungi to be part a reflection of high collecting effort, present. Jack Elix, also an Associate of the relatively low number of verified the Australian National Herbarium and non‑vascular plants and macrofungi is internationally recognised lichen expert, largely a function of low effort, simply believes that there could be twice as many because of the small number of collectors. lichen species present as are currently The species we know of are largely recorded. In other words actual species associated with dry sclerophyll habitats, numbers, based on knowledge and growing on soils and dead plant material informed opinion, could be over 400 and (macrofungi) and soils and rocks (lichens, nearly all of these are native, a number at hornworts and liverworts).

Lichenomphalia chromacea Laetiporus portentosus Ramaria sp.

Black Mountain: a natural history of a Canberra icon 15 Buellia sp. Cladia aggregata Parmeliaceae

Asterella drummondii Riccia duplex Dawsonia sp. Cryptogams on Black Mountain include macrofungi (page 15), lichens (top), liverworts (bottom left and middle) and mosses (bottom right). Most liverworts and mosses are small and easily overlooked and present only after rainfall.

Changes in Vascular Plant means that we are in a position to assess Diversity over Time changes over the past 50 years. Some of Another aspect of diversity to be the Gray-McKee records were from areas considered is changes in diversity over outside of the current nature reserve (e.g. time. One of the great benefits of the long Aranda Bushland and Bruce Ridge), so and well-documented history of vascular are discounted here for the purposes of plant collecting on Black Mountain is comparison, leaving a list of 463 species that there is enough information to that were or could have been collected measure cumulative species numbers on Black Mountain as understood in recorded at given intervals over time this book. To this was added another and for at least some species to chart 45 species based on reliable herbarium changes in distribution and abundance. specimens that Gray-McKee had not It’s impossible to do this for the much less included, making a total of 508 species well-known macrofungi and non-vascular recorded to the end of 1969. species. A comprehensive up-to-date list as at The first comprehensive list of vascular April 2017 was compiled from all available plants for the mountain was published sources, and to maximise its value every in 1969, by Max Gray and Hugh McKee of species on it was assigned a distribution the CSIRO Division of Plant Industry. This and abundance rating using the same

16 Plants categories employed by Gray-McKee. 508 to 728 species (dicots by 50.8% and While it was possible to compare the monocots by 27%). An important time distribution and abundance ratings in this period was the most recent, from of 363 species over the time period in December 2013 to April 2017, when a this way, the 2017 list study points out targeted search for ‘missing’ species that many factors combine to require (see 3.3.5 below) by just one individual a considerable degree of caution in incidentally identified 93 species not interpreting such comparisons. For hitherto recorded on Black Mountain. instance widespread species comprised Over the full period 70 species native 23% of the total in 1969 but only 12% in to the area were added (of a total of 2017. Likewise the percentage of species in 220 species added). combined ‘common’ categories dropped from 76% to 52%. However Gray-McKee Characteristic Understorey were looking at a much larger area than Species was the 2017 list; they did not define Like the eucalypts in the tree layer of their terms, so allocation of species to Black Mountain (see chapter 3), the their categories in the later study did not understorey also has its characteristic necessarily follow the same methodology; species, some of which are almost as the search effort in the decade preceding evident. In terms of families of indigenous 2017 was probably higher than that plants by far the largest is . before 1969, and various environmental Asteraceae (daisies), Poaceae (grasses), disturbances in the decade prior to the and (peas and acacias) also surveys would have influenced species’ dominate. They are followed by Myrtaceae patterns—these include drought, fire, (eucalpyts, bottlebrushes and teatrees); Phytophthora (root‑rot fungus) outbreaks, Cyperaceae (sedges); Juncaceae roadworks and grazing. (rushes); Asparagaceae (a lily family), The total number of plants recorded Campanulaceae (including the bluebells, from the end of 1969 to the end of Wahlenbergia spp.) and Ericaceae April 2017 increased by 43.4%, from (heaths) (Fig. 4.4).

Ericaceae (8) Campanulaceae (9) Asparagaceae (9) Orchidaceae (51)

Juncaceae (11)

Cyperaceae (12)

Myrtaceae (13)

Asteraceae (37) Fabaceae (27)

Poaceae (34) Figure 4.4 Largest families of native understorey plants on Black Mountain showing number of species in each family. The Fabaceae includes 11 species of Acacia.

Black Mountain: a natural history of a Canberra icon 17 Species which are described as both currently widespread and either common or fairly or locally common (Table 4.1) give a good indication of the characteristic indigenous understorey of the mountain.

Table 4.1 Characteristic Vascular Plants of Black Mountain

Family Scientific name Common Name

Asparagaceae Lomandra longifolia Long-leaved Matrush

Asteraceae Cassinia quinquefaria Sifton Bush

Cassinia longifolia Cauliflower Bush

Chrysocephalum apiculatum Yellow Buttons

Dillenaceae Hibbertia obtusifolia Hoary Guineaflower

Ericaceae Brachyloma daphnoides Daphne Heath

Fabaceae Acacia buxifolia Box-leaved Wattle

Acacia mearnsii Black (or Green) Wattle

Daviesia mimosoides Narrow-leaved Bitterpea

Dillwynia phylicoides Small-leaved Parrotpea

Pultenaea procumbens Hairy Bushpea

Goodeniaceae Goodenia hederacea Ivy Goodenia

Haloragaceae Gonocarpus tetragynus Common Raspwort

Myrtaceae Kunzea ericoides Burgan

Leptospermum multicaule Silver Teatree

Orchidaceae Caladenia caerulea Blue Caladenia

Caladenia cucullata Lemon Caps

Caladenia fuscata Dusky Fingers

Caladenia major Wax-lipped Orchid

Caladenia moschata Musky Caps

Caladenia ustulata Brown Caps

Calochilus platychilus Purple Beard Orchid

Diuris nigromontana Black Mountain Leopard Orchid

Diuris sulphurea Hornet Orchid

Poaceae Microlaena stipoides Weeping Grass

Poa sieberiana Snowgrass

Rytidosperma caespitosum Ringed Wallaby Grass

Rytidosperma pallidum Red-anthered Wallaby Grass

Proteaceae Grevillea alpina Mountain Grevillea

Santalaceae Exocarpos cupressiformis Cherry Ballart

Stylidiaceae Stylidium graminifolium Grass Triggerplant

18 Plants Cauliflower Bush Box-leaved Wattle Narrow-leaved Bitterpea

Small-leaved Parrotpea Hairy Bushpea Mountain Grevillea

Cherry Ballart Burgan Silver Teatree

Grass Triggerplant Blue Caladenia Ivy Goodenia

Red-anthered Wallaby Grass Dusky Fingers Long-leaved Matrush

A selection of Black Mountain’s characteristic native shrub and herb species

Black Mountain: a natural history of a Canberra icon 19 Any walk through the reserve is very likely to pass most or all of those shrubs, grasses and perennial herbs. The presence of so many orchids in the list (as well as their predominance as a family in terms of species numbers) gives weight to Black Mountain’s reputation as an orchid ‘hot spot’ but they are inconspicuous unless flowering. However regular walks in spring, provided drought is not too severe, will certainly reveal all these species, and probably a few more. By contrast only three weed species are widespread and common or fairly or locally common, comprising two daisies and one grass. They are the perennial Flatweed or Common Cat’s-ear (Hypochaeris radicata), the annual Smooth Catsear (Hypochaeris glabra) and the annual Delicate Hairgrass (Aira elegantissima). Many of the numerous weed species are restricted to disturbed areas such as edges or along trackways. It difficult to assess which species of non-vascular plants and macrofungi are widespread and/or common because of the low collection levels. Only nine species have been collected ten or more times, comprising six lichens, one macrofungus, one liverwort and one moss (Fig. 4.5).

Moss Liverwort Macrofungus Lichen

Dawsonia longiseta

Asterella drummondii

Cortinarius globuliformis

Lichenomphalia chromacea

Cladonia capitellata

Usnea scabrida

Cladia aggregata

Cladonia merochlorophaea

Hypogymnia billardieri

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 Number of collections

Figure 4.5 Most commonly collected lichen, macrofungi, liverwort and moss species on Black Mountain.

20 Plants