Werribee Plains indigenous plants

Zone 16 Consists of fertile clay to clay loam soils with basalt rock usually present. It includes hills, plains and stony rises that are mostly poorly drained. The average rainfall is 40-45 centimetres.

The southern half of this zone was a dry open grassland with few trees and shrubs. Indigenous grasses in this zone consisted mainly of Kangaroo Grass, Wallaby Grass, Spear Grass and Red-leg Grass.

Tussock Grass grasslands occur in the wetter areas and drainage depressions.

Buloke and Grey Box occurred sporadically across the north of the zone with River Red Gum along the watercourses (for example: Lollypop Creek).

River Red Gum and/or Tangled Lignum typically dominate the remaining swamps in this zone that have not been drained.

For a species list for the watercourses and associated escarpments of the Werribee Plains refer to Werribee Plains Rivers and Watercourses.

Tree species
Common name	Botanical name	Size (height by width in metres)		1	2
Lightwood	Acacia implexa	5-15	4-7	Y	-
Black Wattle	Acacia mearnsii	8-25	6-10	X	Y
Golden Wattle	Acacia pycnantha	3-10	2-5	Y	-
Buloke	Allocasuarina luehmannii	5-15	5-10	Y	-
Drooping Sheoke	Allocasuarina verticillata	4-11	3-6	Y	-
Blue Box	Eucalyptus baueriana	10-20	20	-	YR
River Red Gum	Eucalyptus camaldulensis	15-35	15-35	-	Y
Grey Box	Eucalyptus microcarpa	10-25	10-15	Y	-
Shrub species
Gold-dust wattle	Acacia acinacea	0.5-2.5	2-4	X	-
Hedge Wattle	Acacia paradoxa	2-4	2-5	Y	-
Silver Banksia	Banksia marginata	1-10	1-5	X	-
Sweet Bursaria	Bursaria spinosa	2-6	2-3	Y	-
Shrub Violet	Hymenanthera dentata	2-4	1-2.5	Y	-
Tangled Lignum	Muehlenbeckia florulenta	2	2	-	Y
Snowy Mint-bush	Prostanthera nivea	3	2.5	YU	-
Groundcover and tussock species
Red-leg Grass	Bothriochloa macra	0.2	0.8	Y	-
Common Everlasting	Chrysocephalum apiculatum	0.3	1-2	Y	-
Wallaby Grass	Danthonia species	0.2	0.4-1	Y	Y
Tussock Grass	Poa labillardieri	0.8	0.8	-	Y
Spear Grass	Stipa species	0.3	1-2	Y	Y
Kangaroo Grass	Themeda triandra	0.3	0.3	Y	-
R - riparian
U - uncommon
X - species once occurred in this area
Y - species is present in areas of remnant vegetation