Brush Muttonwood (Myrsine howittiana)
© Pete The Poet
Muttonwood is a common plant, occuring from the far south east of the Australian continent at Wilsons Promontory. And all the way up to Nambour in south eastern Queensland. To the south of Sydney are many superb Illawarra rainforests. To the north in the Central Coast region are varied and interesting rainforests. The Central Coast rainforest have so many species at their southern most limit of distribution. Such as the Rosewood and the White Walnut. The Blue Mountains to the west have those magnificent Coachwood rainforests, of a 30 metre high canopy. In between them, Sydney has only a few rainforest patches. Mostly because of the poor soils and frequent fires. This photographed Sydney rainforest has a low rainfall. Only 800 mm per year. The soils are alluvial, as the forest is next to Cattai Creek. Other parts of Sydney have a rainfall of 1400 mm. Some authorities will tell you that rainforest only occurs on fertile soils with a rainfall of over 1300 mm per year. Some experts say there is no rainforest in Sydney at all. Australian rainforests grow in moist areas without fire. Lack of fire (and lack of human destruction) is the most important factor. Here at Cattai National Park, the rainforest is dominated by two ubiquitous species: Lilly Pilly and the Sandpaper Fig. The rainforest is low, with few trees exceeding 15 metres in height. There's plenty of other Illawarra rainforest trees species here too. Such as White Cedar, Acronychia, Poison Peach, Jackwood, Whalebone Tree, Ironwood, Native Quince. As far as I'm concerned, the botanical wonders of this place are the Buff Hazelwood and the White Hazelwood. Nice to see the White Cedar here today, growing next to Cattai Creek. Do all rainforest trees need high rainfall and rich soil to survive? I've seen the White Cedar grow on rich volcanic soil, in a rainforest that gets 2000 mm of rain on average per year. Also, I've seen them happily growing in an abandoned homestead garden, in the desert. The rainfall there is 200 mm per year. If the roots of this rainforest tree are well established, it can survive all sorts of furious heat, direct sun and almost no rainfall. How they survived the recent droughts out there is incomprehensible. An amazing resilience. Apart from the effect of man, there's no problems for the rainforest trees here at Cattai National Park. A surprising, attractive and unexpected rainforest in the Sydney region.
Photo taken on 10 May 2010
Photograph location coordinates are -33.558544:150.91791.