Coastal Shale Sandstone Forest

Sydney Foreshore Shale Forest is a tall open eucalypt forest with a sparse shrub layer and a dense cover of ground covers, vines and climbers. It occurs on shale-enriched sandstone, on crests and slopes near waterways. Sydney Foreshores Shale Forest occurs at elevations between 6 to 20 metres above sea level.

The only patch of this vegetation community in Ryde can be found at Memorial Park, Meadowbank.

Native species list

Common Name

Botanical Name

Approx. Height

Trees

 

 

Smooth-Bark Apple

Angophora costata

15-25m

Grey Gum

Eucalyptus punctata

20-30m

Forest Red Gum

Eucalyptus tereticornis

30-40m

Small Trees

 

 

Black She-Oak

Allocasuarina littoralis

5-15m

Black Wattle

Acacia mearnsii

3-10m

Mock Olive

Notelaea longifolia

3-6m

Corkwood

Duboisia myoporoides

 

Myrsine

Myrsine variabilis

 
Shrubs

 

 
Tick Bush Kunzea ambigua 1-3m
Coffee Bush Breynia oblongifolia 1-2m
Prickly Heath Leucopogon juniperinus  
Ground Covers    

Three-awn Speargrass

Aristida vagans

 

Kidney Herb

Dichondra repens

 

Right-angle Grass

Entolasia stricta

 

Prickly Heath

Leucopogon juniperinus

 

Weeping Grass

Microlaena stipoides var. stipoides

 

White Root

Pratia purpurascens

 

Rough Saw-sedge

Gahnia aspera

 

Variable Sword-sedge

Lepidosperma laterale

 

Spiny Headed Mat Rush

Lomandra longifolia

 

Slender-leaf Basket Grass

Oplismenus imbecillis

 

Small Poranthera

Poranthera microphylla

 

Creeping Speedwell

Veronica plebeia

 

Small Flower Finger Grass

Digitaria parviflora

 

Brown’s Love Grass

Eragrostis brownii

 

Stinking Pennwort

Hydrocotyle laxiflora

 

Blady Grass

Imperata cylindrica var. major

 

Basket Grass

Oplismenus aemulus

 

Yellow Wood-sorrel

Oxalis perennans

 

Forest Hedgehog Grass

Echinopogon ovatus

 

Bordered Panic

Entolasia marginata

 

Wattle Mat Rush

Lomandra filiformis

 

Slender Panic

Paspalidium distans

 

Native Violet

Viola hederacea

 

Vines and Climbers

 

 

Love Creeper

Glycine microphylla

 

Scrambling Lily

Geitonoplesium cymosum

 

Apple Dumplings

Billardiera scandens

 

Golden Guinea Flower

Hibbertia scandens

 
 
Location in City of Ryde

Coastal shale sandstone forest map

 

Related information

Saline Wetlands

Sandstone Geology

Shale Geology

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