Australia's vegetation - Australian Plant Information

A simplified look at Australia's vegetation

There have been various attempts to devise a classification to accommodate the distinctive vegetation of Australia. The system most widely recognised at present was drawn up by Specht (1970) and defines structural forms of vegetation in terms of the dominant plant form and the percentage of foliage cover of the tallest plant layer. The use of foliage cover rather than canopy cover takes special account of the open nature of eucalypt crowns.

In this classification, a tree is defined as a woody plant more than 5 m tall, usually with a single stem. A shrub is a woody plant less than 8 m tall, frequently with many stems arising at or near the base.

The map below gives a simplified representation of the major vegetation types in Australia.

Simplified vegetation map of Australia

Structural forms of vegetation in Australia (based on Specht 1970)

	Percentage foliage cover of tallest plant layer
Life form and height of tallest stratum	Dense (70-100%)	Mid-dense (30-70%)	Sparse (10-30%)	Very sparse (<10%)
Trees > 30 m	Tall closed-forest	Tall open-forest	Tall woodland	Tall open-woodland
Trees 10-30 m	Closed-forest	Open -forest	Woodland	Open-woodland
Trees 5-10 m	Low closed-forest	Low open-forest	Low woodland	Low open-woodland
Shrubs 2-8 m	Closed -scrub	Open-scrub	Tall shrubland	Tall open-shrubland
Shrubs 0-2 m	Closed -heath	Open-heath	Low shrubland	Low open-shrubland

References:
Carnahan, J.A. in Jeans, D.N. (ed.) (1977), Inside back cover, "Australia: a geography". Sydney University Press, Sydney.
Specht, R.L. (1970) Vegetation. Pages 44–67 in Leeper, G.W. (ed.), "Australian Environment", 4th edn. Melbourne University Press, Melbourne.

GROWING AUSTRALIAN PLANTS

ACT (CANBERRA) REGION