The Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub is a remnant

sclerophyll Sclerophyll is a type of vegetation that is adapted to long periods of dryness and heat. The plants feature hard leaf, leaves, short Internode (botany), internodes (the distance between leaves along the stem) and leaf orientation which is paral ...

scrubland that is found in the

eastern suburbs Eastern Suburbs may refer to: Places *Eastern Suburbs (Mumbai), India *Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Australia **Eastern Suburbs railway line, Sydney, Australia Sports clubs ;Association football *Eastern Suburbs AFC, Auckland, New Zealand * Eastern ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, New South Wales, Australia. Listed under the ''

Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 The ''Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999'' (Cth) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia that provides a framework for protection of the Australian environment, including its biodiversity and its natural and cultu ...

'' as and endangered vegetation community and as 'critically endangered' under the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016, it is a type of

heathland A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a cooler ...

that is found mainly in the eastern and southeastern coastal areas of Sydney.Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub of the Sydney Region
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Geography

It is found on wind-blown ( aeolian) sands in coastal areas such as the

Sydney Heads Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountains ...

south to the

Kamay Botany Bay National Park The Kamay Botany Bay National Park is a Heritage register, heritage-listed state park, protected national park that is located in the Sydney metropolitan region of New South Wales, in eastern Australia. The national park is situated approxim ...

, but has remnants between the

Hawkesbury River The Hawkesbury River, or Hawkesbury-Nepean River, is a river located northwest of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Hawkesbury River and its associated main tributary, the Nepean River, almost encircle the metropolitan region of Sydney. ...

in the north, and Stanwell Park, at the southern boundary of

Royal National Park The Royal National Park is a protected national park that is located in Sutherland Shire in the Australian state of New South Wales, just south of Sydney. The national park is about south of the Sydney central business district near the local ...

in the south. It was once present as an almost uninterrupted band near the coastal perimeter of Sydney, where it covered 5,300 hectares of land between North Head and

Botany Bay Botany Bay (Dharawal: ''Kamay''), an open oceanic embayment, is located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, south of the Sydney central business district. Its source is the confluence of the Georges River at Taren Point and the Cook ...

, but now there are very few parts left in Sydney, with only around 5-10% of the original area present. It mainly occurs on senescent and nutrient poor sands either on dunes, sandplains or on headlands. It is now recorded in the local government areas of

Botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

, Randwick,

Waverley Waverley may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Waverley'' (novel), by Sir Walter Scott ** ''Waverley'' Overture, a work by Hector Berlioz inspired by Scott's novel * Waverley Harrison, a character in the New Zealand soap opera ''Shortland Stree ...

, and

Manly Council Manly Council was a local government area on the northern beaches region of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, first incorporated in 1877. On 12 May 2016, the Minister for Local Government announced that Manly Council would be subsumed into the ...

s.Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub in the Sydney Basin Bioregion - profile

Office of Environment & Heritage The New South Wales Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH), a former division of the Government of New South Wales between April 2011 and July 2019, was responsible for the care and protection of the environment and heritage, which includes ...

. Retrieved 15 September 2022.

Ecology

It generally features sclerophyllous heath or scrub species, although small residue of woodland and low forest may occur. It is dominated by woody shrub species, such as,

Banksia aemula ''Banksia aemula'', commonly known as the wallum banksia, is a shrub of the family Proteaceae. Found from Bundaberg south to Sydney on the Australian east coast, it is encountered as a shrub or a tree to in coastal heath on deep sandy soil, k ...

Banksia serrata ''Banksia serrata'', commonly known as the saw banksia, the old man banksia, the saw-tooth banksia or the red honeysuckle and as wiriyagan by the Cadigal people, is a species of woody shrub or tree of the genus ''Banksia'', in the family Prote ...

Leptospermum laevigatum ''Leptospermum laevigatum'', commonly known as the coast tea tree, is a species of shrub or small tree that is endemic to south-eastern Australia, but has been widely introduced in other places where it is often considered to be a weed. It has th ...

Monotoca elliptica ''Monotoca elliptica'', the tree broom heath, is a plant in the family Ericaceae, found in south-eastern Australia. Description Monotoca elliptica is a long-lived species which may grow for more than a hundred years. The plant is often seen a ...

Acacia longifolia ''Acacia longifolia'' is a species of ''Acacia'' native to southeastern Australia, from the extreme southeast of Queensland, eastern New South Wales, eastern and southern Victoria, and southeastern South Australia. Common names for it include lon ...

, and

Acacia suaveolens ''Acacia suaveolens'' (sweet wattle) is a shrub species endemic to Australia. It grows to between 0.3 and 3.5 metres high and has smooth purplish-brown or light green bark and has straight or slightly curving blue-green phyllodes The pale ...

, with stunted eucalypts, such as

Corymbia gummifera ''Corymbia gummifera'', commonly known as red bloodwood, is a species of tree, rarely a mallee, that is endemic to eastern Australia. It has rough, tessellated bark on the trunk and branches, lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds in groups o ...

and

Angophora costata ''Angophora costata'', commonly known as Sydney red gum, rusty gum or smooth-barked apple, is a species of tree that is endemic to eastern Australia. Reaching in height, the species has distinctive smooth bark that is pinkish or orange-brown wh ...

. Understorey species include

Pimelea linifolia ''Pimelea linifolia'', commonly known as slender rice flower is a common, variable shrub widespread throughout eastern Australia. It has narrow leaves arranged in opposite pairs, and usually white flowers arranged in heads of seven or more on th ...

, Persoonia lanceolata,

Philotheca salsolifolia ''Philotheca salsolifolia'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Rutaceae and is endemic to New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory. It is a shrub with crowded, more or less cylindrical leaves and pink to mauve flowers ...

, Ricinocarpos pinifolius, Styphelia viridis, Xanthorrhoea resinosa, Haemodorum planifolium, Hypolaena fastigiata,

Lepidosperma concavum ''Lepidosperma concavum'', commonly known as the sandhill sword-sedge, is a plant found in coastal regions of south-eastern and eastern Australia. It grows on sandy soils in woodland, forest and heathland. Description The sandhill sword-sedge ...

, Lomandra glauca, Xanthosia pilosa,

Bossiaea ''Bossiaea'' is a genus of about 78 species of flowering plants in the pea family Fabaceae and is endemic to Australia. Plants in this genus often have stems and branches modified as cladodes, simple, often much reduced leaves, flowers with the ...

and

Fauna

Animals include

Cercartetus nanus The eastern pygmy possum (''Cercartetus nanus'') is a diprotodont marsupial of south-eastern Australia. Occurring from southern Queensland to eastern South Australia and also Tasmania, it is found in a range of habitats, including rainforest, sc ...

Antechinus stuartii The brown antechinus (''Antechinus stuartii''), also known as Stuart's antechinus and Macleay's marsupial mouse, is a species of small carnivorous marsupial of the family Dasyuridae. The males die after their first breeding season, and the speci ...

and

Perameles nasuta The long-nosed bandicoot (''Perameles nasuta''), a marsupial, is a species of bandicoot found in eastern Australia, from north Queensland along the east coast to Victoria. Around long, it is sandy- or grey-brown with a long snouty nose. Omnivor ...

References

{{Sydneybushland Endangered ecological communities Geography of Sydney Remnant urban bushland Vegetation of Australia Ecoregions of New South Wales Temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands Sclerophyll forests Mallee Woodlands and Shrublands