THREATENED RAINFOREST PLANTS OF THE GOLD COAST A GUIDE TO IDENTIFICATION AND CONSERVATION Contents Introduction .........................................................................2 Common rainforest types of the Gold Coast ........................4 Threats to rainforest .............................................................9 Rainforest restoration .........................................................12 Conservation status of native plants in Queensland ...........14 How to use this booklet .....................................................15 Species descriptions .........................................................15 Leaf types and terminology ................................................16 Trees and shrubs ...............................................................18 Vines .................................................................................51 Groundcovers ...................................................................53 Glossary of botanical terms ...............................................56 Index .................................................................................58 Information and advice ......................................................60 Recommended references .................................................60 Key E Endangered Leaf structure V Vulnerable Leaf arrangement NT Near threatened Leaf/leaflet margin Inflorescence Cover photo: Glenn Leiper Inside cover photo: Lui Weber Threatened rainforest plants of the Gold Coast 1 Introduction The Gold Coast’s rainforests lie within one of Australia’s to the warmer, wetter conditions of the interglacial periods nationally recognised biodiversity hotspots – the Border Ranges and the increased aridity of the glacial periods. The most of southern Queensland and northern New South Wales. recent glacial period ended about 11,000 years ago and rainforests began to expand once more. During this latest Broadly speaking, the city marks the junction of our eastern period of rainforest expansion indigenous people inhabited seaboard’s tropical and temperate zones, and ranges the present day Gold Coast. The ocean, rivers and forests from coastal headlands to the hinterland’s cool, misty provided them with a sustainable source of food, raw mountain tops. Our rainforests are the green behind the materials and medicines. gold, a magnet for local and overseas tourists, bushwalkers, naturalists and people just wanting that ‘rainforest When Europeans arrived in the mid-1800s the Gold Coast experience’. To protect and conserve our rainforests, it is was heavily forested. Timber getters were the first to reach helpful to know a little of their history and the great diversity the area and began selectively logging the more accessible of species they contain. forests for red cedar, beech, hoop pine and other prized timbers. Farmers and graziers arrived soon after and Rainforest plants have their evolutionary origins in the vast, commenced clearing the rainforest ‘scrubs’, burning the temperate rainforests of Gondwana, the ancient southern timber where it was felled. Whilst rich in species, the lowland supercontinent. We have learnt a great deal about plant rainforests were the first to disappear. Little thought was origins and evolution, geological processes and climate given to conserving representative areas of the different change by studying existing species and fossil records. For forest types. millions of years after Australia separated from the remnants of Gondwana, rainforest continued to flourish but the Today we have a better understanding and appreciation of climate gradually became hotter, drier and more fire prone our rainforests. Their evolutionary history, the great diversity as Australia drifted north. Eucalypts and acacias evolved of species they contain and the spectacular landscapes in in response to the changing environment and became which they are found have been recognised in the World dominant over most of the continent. The rainforests Heritage declaration of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia retreated to refugia, like wetter coastal areas and mountain (1994). Now, in the Gold Coast and elsewhere, many areas ranges, where they were protected from drought and fire. cleared of rainforest in the past are being allowed to naturally regenerate or are being replanted with native rainforest In the Pleistocene period (1.6 million – 10,000 years ago), species to replace some of what has been lost. rainforest periodically expanded and contracted in response 2 Threatened rainforest plants of the Gold Coast 3 Common rainforest types of the Gold Coast Different types of rainforest exist within the Gold Coast, often Dry rainforest in close proximity to each other and interspersed amongst • typically survives in very small patches, which have non-rainforest vegetation types e.g. eucalypt forest. escaped clearing and have some natural protection from fire e.g. rocky outcrops Subtropical rainforest • is widespread throughout the hinterland from the coast • is found in parts of the city with lower rainfall (less than to the ranges 1100mm annually) • is often found in patches and strips in sheltered gullies • is much less luxuriant than sub-tropical rainforest, with and on protected, south facing slopes a lower canopy (though there may be scattered tall emergent trees like Hoop Pine (Araucaria cunninghamii) • exists where rainfall is high (greater than 1300mm and Crow’s Ash (Flindersia australis) and fewer vines annually) and temperatures warm (typically below about and epiphytes 600m elevation) • comprises trees with smaller leaves than those of sub- • has vegetation that appears luxuriant, fitting the common tropical rainforest; the leaves, stems and branches of dry impression of rainforest, with high species diversity and rainforest trees sometimes have prickles. many plant forms including tall trees, strangler figs, palms, vines, epiphytes and ferns. Wet sclerophyll (eucalypt) • is an intermediary type of forest rather than true rainforest Riparian (gallery/riverine) rainforest • is found in narrow strips along watercourses, • is characterised by eucalypts in the canopy and sometimes with Eucalypt species and Brush Box rainforest plants in the understorey (Lophostemon confertus) • may evolve to have a canopy dominated by rainforest • typically has foliage that overhangs the water and trees trees, rather than eucalypts, in forests where fire is that must withstand occasional flooding excluded entirely. • has been highly impacted by clearing; what remains is often threatened by weed invasion and fire. 4 Threatened rainforest plants of the Gold Coast 5 Uncommon rainforest types of the Gold Coast Warm temperate rainforest Littoral rainforest • is found in areas of intermediate elevation, cooler • is found close to the sea on nutrient rich sandy or temperature and typically less fertile soils than basalt volcanic soils sub-tropical rainforest e.g. Springbrook and • remain on sandy soils in only a few tiny fragments Lamington plateaus in Surfers Paradise • has less diversity of plant forms and species than • remain on basalt volcanic soils in Burleigh Head subtropical rainforest National Park • is often dominated by the tree species Coachwood • has a wind-sheared upper tree canopy with species (Ceratopetalum apetalum) and Sassafras tolerant of some salt spray, such as Tuckeroo (Doryphora sassafras) (Cupaniopsis anacardioides) and Cheese Tree • often has various lichens covering the tree trunks. (Glochidion ferdinandi). Cool temperate rainforest Paddock trees • is restricted to the highest parts (above 900m elevation) Surrounded by paddocks, isolated and clearly subject to of the Springbrook and Lamington plateaus, and is only a range of threats including grazing, weeds and fire, these found within National Parks trees may not seem significant. However, such trees can be very significant as either a threatened species themselves, or • is found in areas with very high annual rainfall by providing the right conditions (e.g. shade and protection) (1500–3500mm) for other threatened rainforest species to establish. Paddock • is typically dominated by Antarctic Beech trees also act as important habitat in fragmented areas and (Nothofagus moorei) as stepping stones to larger patches of rainforest. • has an abundant representation of ferns, mosses, orchids and lichens. 6 Threatened rainforest plants of the Gold Coast 7 Threats to rainforest Many rainforest plants struggle to survive in small, isolated patches, where they are particularly vulnerable to various forms of disturbance and inbreeding. The threats listed here will be applicable, in various combinations, to most of the species described in this booklet. Weeds In the same way our city supports a great diversity of native species with its wide variety of soil types and altitudinal conditions, it also supports a huge array of introduced species. Weeds can be an insidious threat not readily apparent to a casual observer who may not recognise them as weeds or understand their capacity to damage an ecosystem. Some weeds are so destructive they have been termed ‘transformer weeds’, because they transform an area’s landscape, and weeds are considered one of the biggest threats to our city’s biodiversity. The great news is that we can all play a role in the control and reduction of weeds. First and foremost, avoid interfering with the canopy, understorey or groundcover of intact, native forests. If you open up the canopy by cutting down trees, or clear out your understorey,