The Yarra Ranges Shire Council have developed a plant directory which is based on the surrounding native woodlands in their council region.
The Shire of Yarra Ranges, also known as Yarra Ranges Council, is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, located in the outer eastern and northeastern suburbs of Melbourne extending into the Yarra Valley and Dandenong Ranges. (Wikipedia | Yarra Ranges Shire).
Plant communities
According to the Plant Directory, there are 44 unique plant communities within the Yarra valley and the Dandenong Ranges. (Yarra Ranges Plant Directory | Plant Communities). These communities include woodlands and wetlands with each having specific plant communities which make up the lower, middle and upper storeys. These plants also can be further grouped by their characteristics.
The directory identifies the following plant groupings:
- Aquatic & Semi-aquatic
- Climbers & Creepers
- Epiphytes
- Ferns & Fern Allies
- Grasses, Rushes & Sedges
- Herbs & Ground covers
- Lilies & Irises
- Mistletoes
- Orchids
- Shrubs
- Trees
Plants commercially available
For members of the Shire who are interested in carrying out restoration or simply would like to grow locally indigenous plants in their garden, there is a list of plants which can be purchased at nurseries. The revegetation plant list generally does not represent the totality of the plant to be found in a given community.
How to use the Directory
The Plant Directory can be used to find:
- a specific plant using a search field using its scientific or common name. If you use the common word, such as wattle, the search result will list plants with the acacia genus.
- a set of plants by community, of which there are 44 in the plant directory
- a set of plants which belong to a specific storey: under, middle or upper. This selection can be further filtered for specific plant groupings, flower colour, or phrase or keyword
- a set of plants for a specific plant community which are commonly propagated and available at nurseries.
The number and richness of the plant communities in the Yarra Ranges Shire make the directory ideal for conducting specific plant searches for regions of South Eastern Australia which may share the same plants. The entries for each plant provide lots of detail which can help with plant selection. For example, the listing for Acacia paradoxa | Kangaroo Thorn provides details such as:
- Storey
- Size
- Plant grouping
- Leaves
- Flower colour
- Flower time
- Flowers
- Bird attracting
- Frog habitat
- Growing conditions
- Garden use
- Commercially available
- Conservation status
- Related species