About the Catchment Area : Flora

Plants of a Grey Box Woodland

Named after the dominant canopy species of the association, Grey Box or Eucalyptus microcarpa, range between 6-20m and have rough, hard 'box' bark which is grey to brown in colour. Grey Box grassy, woodland is considered to be an endangered ecosystem according to the Provisional List of Threatened Ecosystems of South Australia compiled by the Dept for Environment and Heritage.

View the plants that are associated with the Grey Box Woodland

Plants of the ground layer
Plants of the shrub layer
Plants of the tree layer

Grey Box occurs mostly in heavy clay soils and locally shares the canopy layer with South Australian Blue Gum, River Red Gum and Drooping She-oak.

The shrub layer of a Grey Box woodland often supports a large number of wattles such as Kangaroo Thorn, Golden Wattle and Wreath Wattle as well as Sweet Bursaria, Native Cherry and Sticky Hop Bush. Come Spring, it is the ground layer which really comes to life with a flush of flowers from bush peas, guinea flowers, lilies, orchids and grasses.

Within the Onkaparinga Catchment area, much of Aberfoyle Park, Happy Valley, Reynella, Morphett Vale, Woodcroft, the McLaren Vale region and the Hills Face Zone been between Kangarilla and Willunga once supported Grey Box woodland. Despite there being only a fraction of the original distribution left, we are lucky enough to have some remnants in local government reserves such as the Vines Creek, Tangari Regional Reserve, Panalatinga Reserve and parts of the Onkaparinga National Park.

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