Australian Plants Society NORTH SHORE GROUP

Ku-ring-gai Wildflower Garden

SYDNEY SANDSTONE FLORA

Did you know that?

Sydney sandstone was formed over 200 million years ago.
In spite of being low in nutrients, it has great diversity.
Its area extends roughly from the Hunter River to the Shoalhaven River and to
the western edge of the Blue Mountains.

Formation of Sydney Sandstone

300 million years ago the rocks of Antarctica were uplifted to form a massive mountain
range. At this time Australia and Antarctica, as part of Gondwana, were adjacent and
situated near the South Pole.

200 to 250 million years ago erosion of these mountains produced vast quantities of
sand that was carried by a huge river system across southern Australia from Antarctica
until it reached the present east coast. It deposited the sand into the
Sydney Basin and over millions of years these sands were
consolidated into sandstone up to 50 metres thick.

Geology of the Sydney area

There are 3 major groups with minor layers.
1. Wianamatta Shale
2. Hawkesbury Sandstone (HS)
3. Narrabeen Sandstone
The Wianamatta Group is essentially shale, acidic and moderately
fertile. In Ku-ring-gai it is on the higher areas. Typical vegetation is
found on the higher slopes of Sheldon Forest and Dalrymple Nature
Reserve.
Beneath the shale lies Hawkesbury Sandstone which supports a sandy
acidic soil, pH 5.5 to 4.

Narrabeen Sandstone located under the Hawkesbury, is from an earlier time and has a
somewhat larger component of shale.

Area
The Sydney area is located roughly from Newcastle to the Shoalhaven and west to the
western edge of the Blue Mountains, an area of 23000 square kilometres. It contains the
catchment of the Nepean-Hawkesbury Rivers (excluding the upper Wollondilly River).
In the centre of the Sydney area is the Cumberland plain with its shale soil. To the north
is the Hornsby Plateau, generally 200-300m above sea level. Here the major outcropping
rock is Hawkesbury Sandstone.

Soils
Sandstone generally weathers to form grey/yellow sandy soils which are acidic with low
fertility. These support a very high diversity of plant species.
Although the KWG vegetation is essentially Hawkesbury Sandstone flora, it could be
influenced by the presence of Shale in some of the higher areas. Features include Tessellated pavements - Caused by weathering and erosion
Laterites- from iron and aluminium oxides, are remnants of a previous extensive
shale plateau surface. Identified by large irregular, rounded orange-red ironstone
nuggets. They provide some nutrients to the yellow soils and are able to support
low open forests. They are found on higher sandstone soils and in Ku-ring-gai
there are examples in the vicinity of KWG and St Ives Showground.

Tessellated pavement

Laterites

Vegetation types
A variety of vegetation types are found in Sydney Sandstone including heath, scrub,
woodlands and open forest which is the predominant type where trees are up to 30 m
high with a canopy cover of 30-70 %. It is in this vegetation type where many of the
beautiful sandstone wildflowers are found. In the deeper valleys tall open forest and
rainforest are present.

Sandstone communities
Endangered Ecological Communities
There are several Endangered Ecological Communities including Sydney Turpentine
Ironbark Forest (STIF) and Duffys Forest Ecological Community (DFEC) which have
components of Sandstone.
Areas of DFEC are found in KWG.
Components include the dominant canopy trees
Eucalyptus sieberi (Black Ash or Silver top Ash)
Corymbia gummifera (Red Bloodwood)
Angophora costata (Sydney Red Gum)
E. capitellata or E. oblonga (Stringybarks).

Eucalyptus sieberi

Two major communities, Sydney Sandstone Ridgetop Woodland (SSRW) and

Sydney Sandstone Gully Forest (SSGF) are found in Sydney Sandstone.
SSRW is found on the more exposed ridges and plateaux with shallower soils interrupted
by outcrops of rock. Features found include tessellated pavements and laterites.

Characteristic tree species of SSRW in KWG are Corymbia gummifera, Eucalyptus

oblonga, E. haemastoma and E. racemosa. Patches of Banksia ericifolia and Hakea
teretifolia occur in open-scrub sites with poorly drained soil.
SSGF is generally confined to gullies and sheltered hillsides, particularly on the Southern
and Eastern aspects. It may have 3 units;
Open-forest/woodland where the main trees are E. piperita and Angophora
costata. Corymbia gummifera and Allocasuarina littoralis are also present.
Tall open-forest where the trees are E. pilularis and Syncarpia glomulifera. (This
assembly is not at KWG).
Closed forest with Ceratopetalum apetalum

Ceratopetalum apetalum

Tristaniopsis laurina

Sandstone Gully Forest with closed canopy

Special plants

Melaleuca deanei Rare 3RCAngophora crassifolia Restricted to the Ku-ring-gai plateau

Genoplesium baueri Rare 3RCEucalyptus luehmanniana Rare 2RCa
Darwinia procera Rare 2RCa
Leucopogon amplexicaulis Restricted to the coastal districts of Sydney
Tetratheca glandulosa Vulnerable 2VCHaloragodendron lucasii Endangered 2ECi

(Key 2: Geographic range < 100km

3: Geographic range > 100km
E: Endangered species in serious risk of disappearing within 1 or 2 decades .
R: Rare in Australia but not currently considered endangered or vulnerable.
V: Vulnerable not presently endangered risk of disappearing over a longer period
C: Population reserved Ca : Adequately
- C-: Adequacy unknown
-Ci-: Inadequately reserved )
Melaleuca deanei

Darwinia procera

Angophora crassifolia

Genoplesium baueri

Leucopogon amplexicaulis

Tetratheca glandulosa

Eucalyptus luehmanniana

Haloragodendron lucasii

Sandstone Families and a selection of their plants

A major division of the Flowering Plants is into Dicotyledons and Monocotyledons.

Dicotyledons
Family Fabaceae (Sub family Mimosoideae)
Other Wattle Species

Acacia echinula

Acacia oxycedrus

Acacia ulicifolia

Acacia linifolia

Family: Proteaceae
This family includes Grevilleas and Banksias and the state floral emblem, the Waratah,
Telopea speciosissima. Other species are pictured below.

Families: Myrtaceae and Rutaceae

The family Myrtaceae includes the eucalypts and callistemons. The Rutaceae family has
slightly fewer species. Boronias may be the highlight of this family.

Myrtaceae

Family: Ericaceae
One of the special plants of this family is Epacris longiflora (Fuchsia Heath), but there
are several other species with other attractions, e.g. Woollsia pungens which flowers for
many months and has a strong perfume.

The Lesser Families

There are many outside those common families above. These are sometimes designated
Lesser Families. Species include Christmas Bush, the mistletoes, the mint bushes, flannel
flowers and daisies etc.

Blandfordia nobilis

Actinotus helianthi

Brachyscome sp

Prostanthera scutellarioides

The Monocotyledons
The monocotyledons are the other large division of the flowering plants and include
(Poaceae) grasses, grass trees, lomandras, reeds, rushes and sedges. A large family that
people find fascinating is the orchid family, Orchidaceae. Microtis rara, Prasophyllum
elatum and Thelymitra ixioides have been selected as representatives of the family.

Orchidaceae

Poaceae

Xanthorrhoeaceae & Lomandraceae

(Grass trees and Lomandras)

Xanthorrhoea media

Lomandra brevis

Sedges and Rushes

These are Families Cyperaceae, Restionaceae and Juncaceae.

Isolepis nodosa
(Cyperaceae)

Baloskion tetraphyllum
(Restionaceae)

Juncus usitatus
(Juncaceae)

Plants other than the flowering plants:Ferns and Fern Allies

There are many ferns in the area and fern allies, one of which is Psilotum nudum.

Blechnum nudum

Psilotum nudum

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
These notes are based on the presentation given at the Australian Plant Societys Gettogether in August 2012. They rely on the excellent photos taken by Wendy Grimm,
Mark Abell and Pat Pike.

REFERENCES
Alan Fairley and Phillip Moore. Native Plants of the Sydney Region 2010.
Les Robinson. Field Guide to the Native Plants of Sydney. 2003
For more technical books:
Belinda Pellow, Murray Henwood and Roger Carolin. Flora of the Sydney Region. 2009
Gwen Harden. Flora of New South Wales Volumes 1-4 2000
For identification, plant descriptions and a glossary refer to PlantNET, courtesy of The
Royal Botanic Gardens & Domain Trust, Sydney, 2011.
PlantNET, http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/
Produced for the Walks and Talks Program of the North Shore Group, Australian Plants Society. BJ 2013

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