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PLANT SPECIES OF THE KINGS PARK BUSHLAND By ELEANOR M. BENNETT Kings Park and Botanic Garden, West Perth 6005 BACKGROUND being a “sanctuary of bush land right in the heart of the City”. This The Swan River Colony was view has continued today both founded in 1829 with John with the staff of the Park and the Septimus Roe, the first Surveyor public of Western Australia. General for the Colony, undertaking the planning for the city. The first indication that the HISTORY OF THE BUSHLAND area of Mount Eliza was to set aside SINCE SETTLEMENT for public purposes occured in 1831 when he refused permission for The bushland of Kings Park was timber to be cut from Kings Park. altered considerably before it was Unfortunately permission was gazetted as a public park. As eventually given and in 1835 five mentioned above, most of the tall tonnes of jarrah cut from the timber, especially Jarrah (Eucalyptus vicinity of Mount Eliza was the first marginata) was cut for use in export from the Colony. For several buildings - the Perth Town Hall and years after that timber continued to Government House were built with be cut. Today, the remains of saw timber felled in Kings Park. The pits can be seen throughout the trunks of Blackboys, Xanthorrhoea bushland. In 1872 Malcolm Fraser, preissii, were taken for kindling so the Surveyor General, gazetted only a few larger specimens of these 175ha on Mount Eliza as a public remain. Banksia trees were felled for park and in 1890 this was increased firewood and limestone was by John Forrest to its current size of quarried from the scarp, especially 400ha with the first Board being from Quarry Point near Kennedy appointed in 1895. Fountain. The founding fathers certainly In the 1930s there was an attempt intended Kings Park to remain as to beautify the bushland of Kings bushland when Sir Malcolm Fraser Park, so several non-native species wrote in the Western Australian were planted. These included Year Book for 1902-1904, Eucalyptus cladocalyx (Sugar Gum), “Everything has been done to Melaleuca lanceolata (Rottnest preserve the natural trees and flora, Teatree), Brachychitort populneus so that the wild flowers and shrubs (Kurrajong) and Agonis flexuosa are a delightful feature of the Park". (Peppermint Tree). Planting con¬ John Forrest expressed a similar tinued with other species including view when he said about Kings Park the pink flowering forms of 97 Eucalyptus calophylla (Marri), been used as a “dumping” ground by Eucalyptus erythrocorys (Illyarrie), the resident of Perth and nearby Acacia species and Chamelaucium suburbs. As a result many weeds uncinatum (Geraldton Wax). Many have been introduced. Freesias, of these have now become Gladiolus and other cormous or established in the bushland. bulbous plants are established in More recently seeds of Verticordia the bushland and reproduce very monadelpha were scattered through successfully often to the detriment the bushland and several plants of of the native species. this species can be seen mainly along Fires have been a problem in Kings the road verges. Hakea costata seeds, Park with a few very extensive ones scattered in an area of the Nature having been recorded, the last being Trail, have established successfully in February 1989 when about 1/2 of and spread considerably. the bushland was burnt. For several Perennial Veldgrass (Ehrharta years in the 1930’s it was the Board’s calycina) was first recorded at the policy to control burn designated Crawley end of the Park in 1924 by areas of the Park at 4 year intervals, which time there was a dense but in the last decade very little growth of about 1/4 acre in extent. control burning has been under¬ The grass was then hailed as a taken. Certainly there has been no valuable fodder grass and en¬ regular control burns. couraged as a saleable commodity. The bushland is considerably The flowering heads were collected altered from what it was at the and sold to the residents of Subiaco time of settlement. Before as horse feed. This has subsequently settlement the vegetation would proven to be a very unpleasant have been of tall Tuart (Eucalyptus introduction. Many experiments gomphocepha), Jarrah (Eucalyptus have been undertaken to eradicate marginata) and Marri (Eucalyptus it. Between 1949 and 1951 during the calophylla) with an understorey of flowering season of veldgrass, the Banksia and Allocasuarina trees. Board tried to control it by means Today the structure has changed so of cattle grazing. This attempt that Banksia and Sheoak pre¬ appeared to be soundly based as dominate (Beard, 1967). The original cattle ate the grass, but un¬ ecosystem of a tall open forest of fortunately they also ate the native Tuart-Jarrah-Marri is probably vegetation. Ungerminated seeds of collapsing and being replaced by a Veldgrass were left, the litter and Banksia-Sheoak low open wood¬ soil layers were broken up by the land which is typical of excessively hooves of the animals, leaving areas drained sands of low nutrient for this and other weeds to invade. status. This is a natural sequence Recently the use of a selective but has probably been accelerated herbicide has been very successful by disturbance. and large quantities of the grass have now disappeared. It is essential that follow up spraying continue to GEOLOGY, GEOMORPHOLOGY avoid any reinfestation. AND SOILS For many decades King Park has Kings Park was classified as being 98 within the Spearwood Dune System major tracks, firebreaks and roads with soils of the Karrakatta Soil (Figure 1). This survey commenced Association (Bettenay et al., 1960). with the collecting of plants for These were further classified into a illustration and inclusion in The yellow phase (a grey to brown Bushland Plants of Kings Park. All surface passing into a bright yellow the species recorded (even if not subsoil) and a grey phase (grey recorded recently) within each of surface passing into a bleached light these areas is included and this list grey to white subsurface overlying a has been continually updated since pale yellow subsoil). 1985. After the fire of 1989, species The Karakatta Soil Association is which had not previously been believed to have been formed recorded for the bushland were between 10,000 and 6,000 years ago located and the number of others (McArthur and Bettenay, 1960) has been seriously depleted. The from calcareous beach sand species, their areas of distribution (aeolianite) containing 50-70% and flowering months are given in calcium carbonate. Much of the Appendix 1. calcium carbonate has been leached to form secondary calcite layers at VEGETATION RELATIONSHIPS greater depths. This leaching led to podzolized sands with yellow to Referring to the map of the 12 Areas brownish yellow sands at depth. in Figure 1, Area 12 is the limestone escarpment visible from Mounts Most of the Park is composed of Bay Road. Area 11 is directly above medium sized sand particles with a this and to the east of Forrest Drive. large area of coarse sand towards the Both of these areas have exposed southern end. There are significant limestone, which are more areas of fine sand and some areas of abundant in Area 12 than Area 11. sandy loam horizons, both of which Most of the remiander of the Park is have greater water holding capacity sandy soil with a mix of Banskia than the coarse and medium sands. and Eucalyptus woodland. The loam horizons also has a greater nutrient retention (Bessell-Brown, Three areas, Area 12, Area 11 and 1990). Area 2, recorded species found only in these respective areas. Poa The sandy loam horizon was found porphyrocladus, Hydrocotyle hispidula, to coincide with a more vigorous Leucopogon parviflorus, Daucus vegetation cover. The sand above glochidiatus and Trymalium ledifolium the layer was wet suggesting a are restricted to Area 12, perched water table during some Acacia lasiocarpa, Lasiopetalum months of the year. No water table jnembranaceum, Lyperanthus serratus was found close to the surface and Caladenia hirta to Area 11, and (Bessell-Brown, 1990). Thysanotus thyrsoideus, Pimelea leucantha and Leucopogon racemu- losus to Area 2. BUSHLAND STUDY Areas 11 and 12 have several species For this study the bushland of the in common but which are restricted Park was divided into 12 areas using to these two areas. These included 99 CJ c ¥U03J O CQ 100 Acacia rostellifera, Acanthocarpus melaena pseudostygia, Bossiaea preissii, Calothamnus quadrifidus, eriocarpa and Stirlingia latifolia listed Drosera macrantha, Gompholobium as indicator species. This site is aristatum, Grevillea thelemanniana, included in Area 2. I solepis cernua, lsolepis nodosa, Site vegetation type (Agt) de¬ Melaleuca acerosa, Melaleuca huegelii, scribed as a "closed heath ot mixed Stipa elegantissirna and Ternpletonia Proteaceae - Myrtaceae - retusa. As mentioned above, both Mimosaceae, on shallow sands with these areas have limestone frequent limestone pinnacles" outcropping or close to the surface, corresponds with Area 12. The which does not occur in the indicator species listed were remainder of the bushland. Grevillea thelemanniana, Tempeltonia Occasional species are recorded as retusa, Grevillea crithmifolia and being restricted to other areas e.g. Trymalium ledifolium. Thelymitra crinita to Area 2, Site Vegetation Type BCt described A rnocrinum preissii, Petrophile as “open woodland of Eucalyptus serruriae and Stylidium carnosum gomphocepahala - Banksia attenuata - (which has not been recorded Allocasuarina fraseriana on red recently) to Area 5, L uzula brown sand with frequent lime¬ meridonalis to Area 6, Pronaya fraseri stone pinnacles, corresponds with to Area 8, Cassytha glabella to Area 9, Area 11. The indicator species are Diuris brurnalis, Eriochilus dilatatus Conospermum triplinervium, Phyll- and Schoenus brevisetis to Area 10. anthus calycinus, Dryandra sessilis and In 1987 Mattiske under took an Melaleuca acerosa” ecological survey of Kings Park in The two remaining Site Vegetation which she recognised five Site Vege¬ Types of Mattiske are Cpg, tation Types (Mattiske, 1987). The woodland of Eucalyptus gompno- relationship between the current cephala - Eucalyptus marginata - study and that of Mattiske are Eucalyptus calophylla - Allocasuarina outlined in Table 2. fraseriana - Banksia attenuata - Site Vegetation Types, EBi, described Banksia grandis on yellow sands with as an “open forest of Eucalyptus weakly leached surface and DFw, marginata, - Allocasuarina fraseriana open forest of Eucalyptus marginata - - Banksia ilicifolia - Banksia attenuata Allocasuarina fraseriana - Banksia on deep moist pale yellow sands" attenuata - Banksia menziesii on with Xanthorrhoea preissii, Meso- yellow sands, with leached surface. Table 1. Relationship between Mattiske (1987) Site Vegetation Types (SVT) and study areas. Mattiske Site Vegetation Types A -A.Ct; B - •Bc,; C - C.E g; D “ D.Em; E - E.Bi AREA SVT AREA SVT AREA SVT 1 C,D 5 C.D 9 C.D 2 C,D,E 6 C,D 10 C,D 3 D 7 C,D 11 B 4 C 8 C,D 12 A 101 Table 2. Origin of species occurring in the Kings Park bushland. Number of naturally occurring species 293 Number of other Western Australian species, but introduced to the Kings Park bushland 11 Number of other Australian species, not Western Australian 10 Exotic species (extra Australian) and now naturalised 151 As these occur in pockets B. Largest Families throughout the bushland the Areas There are eight plant families which of this study are not distinct with represent 4% or more of the total these Site Vegetation Types. species in the Kings Park bushland. These are listed in Table 3 below in FLORA RESULTS decreasing rank. The family Poaceae has the highest Several interesting results have percentage of species but most of arisen from this study with regard these are naturalised in the to the number of species by families, bushland. The family Orchidaceae is flowering times, priority listed the family with the highest species. These will be discussed below. percentage of native species. Of the naturalised species 46 originate from Europe and South Africa; 25 A. Number of Species from the Mediterranean Region; 19 A total of 465 species has been from Asia; 11 from north Africa; 9 recorded for the bushland. This from South America; 5 or less from includes those which are native as eastern, southern and northern well as those which have been Australia, America, Argentina, introduced and become naturalised. California, India, Madagascar, A total of 38% of the Kings Park Mexico, North America, Spain and bushland flora is introduced. In the Portugal. Flora of the Perth Region (Marchant, The family with the largest number et at, 1987) 27% species were recorded of native species in the bushland is as alien and for the whole of Western Orchidaceae, which has only 1 Australia approximately 10% (Green, naturalised species. Proteaceae and 1985). Anthericaceae both have 24 native There are no species endemic to the species but there is an additional Kings Park bushland. introduced species in Proteaceae. Poaceae is the family with the most Table 3. Statistical Data naturalised species followed by Asteraceae and Papilionaceae. Native Alien Total Anthericaceae, Cyperaceae, Flaemo- doraceae, Epacridaceae, Goodeni- Ferns 1 0 1 aceae and Droseraceae are all Gymnosperms 3 0 3 families which have no naturalised Angiosperms species in the bushland. It must be Dicotyledons 179 112 292 Monocotyledons 112 60 172 remembered that a naturalised species includes those which are 102 Table 4. Families with 4% or more of the total species in Kings Park. FAMILY NATIVE NATURALISED %OF SPECIES SPECIES TOTAL SPECIES Poaceae 9 34 9 Asteraceae 17 23 8.5 Orchidaceae 38 1 8.3 Papilionaceae 18 12 6.4 Proteaceae 24 1 5.3 Myrtaceae 17 8 5.3 Anthericaceae 24 0 5.1 lridaceae 2 18 4.3 native to other areas in Western C. Flowering Times Australia but which are not native The peak flowering months are to the Kings Park bushland. September and October with Families with rankings 1-12 in August and November also Green are all represented in the recording many species in flower. bushland with the exception of There is a significant drop to July Chenopodiaceae which is ranked at and December, tapering to a low in 9. Anthericaceae which is ranked at February and March as illustrated in 24 by Green has the second largest Figure 2. It must be remembered number of native species present in that the months of flowering of the bushland. Another family of many of the species is dependent interest is Droseraceae which is upon the weather so if the rain ranked 36 in Green but 15 in the comes early and is abundant the Kings Park bushland. annual species will flower earlier, Table 5. Families with 6 or more native species in the bushland and their ranking in Green (1985). FAMILY NATIVE NATURALISED RANKING SPECIES SPECIES IN GREEN Orchidaceae 38 1 11 Proteaceae 24 1 4 Anthericaceae 24 0 24 Papilionaceae 18 12 2 Asteraceae 17 23 5 Myrtaceae 17 8 1 Cyperaceae 16 0 7 Mimosaceae 9 8 6 Hacmodoaraceae 9 0 27 Poaceae 9 34 3 Epacridaceae 8 0 10 Goodeniaceae 8 0 8 Apiaceae 7 1 22 Stylidiaceae 7 0 12 Droseraceae 6 0 36 103 Figure 2. Number of species flowering each month. similarly if spring ends abruptly species in each of the 12 areas with several hot days the bushland represented as a percentage of the dries out quickly with the late total number of species. The flowering species quickly fading. difference was not significant but area 11, which is the area of the D. Percentage of Species in the 12 upper scarp, recorded the highest Areas. percentage. In this area there is an Figure 3 illustrates the number of overlap of species from the upper 12.00%-r"T 10.00%* "T . f 8.00% ^ ' I, 2.00% E3 Percentage Percentage Figure 3. Percentage of total number of species occuring in each area. 104 sandy areas and the limestone made a collection of 22 species from escarpment. Mt Eliza of which included type collections of 10 species and 2 varieties one of which is a fungus E. Priority Listed Species (Bennett, 1992). Since then other The Department of Conservation type collections have been made and Land Management publishes at from the vicinity of Kings Park regular intervals a list of priority including Anigozanthos manglesii species together with their priority var. flavescens Ostenf. collected by number (Hopper et al, 1990). The Ostenfeld in 1914. higher the number the less the plant is under threat. There are 3 priority species listed for the Kings CONCLUSION Park bushland. Although the Kings Park bushland Table 6. Priority species occurring in the has been altered since settlement it Kings Park bushland. is still rich in native species. It is a valuable resource as remnant SPECIES PRIORITY bushland, enjoyable for the public NUMBER to walk or cycle through and see close hand some of Western Dodonaea hakettiana 4 Jacksonia sericea 3 Australia's unique wildflowers. It is Lasiopetalum membranaceu m 2 also of importance historically for timber trees, limestone etc utilised and obtained from the Park by the early settlers. Jacksonia sericea is widespread throughout the bushland. Do- donaea hakettiana occurs in Areas 8, ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 9, 11, 12. The other species Lasio- petalum membranaceum is confined Thanks are extended to many of to the limestone escarpment. the Kings Park Voluntary Guides Lasiopetalum membranaceum is the who told me the locations of many species in the above list which is the species, in particular David Emery most threatened. who provided many new locations for orchid species. Mr A. Brown provided the updated orchid names. F. Kings Park as a type locality. Dr. P.R. Wycherley encouraged me Several type specimens have been with the preparation of the collected from Kings Park. Many of “Bushland Plants of Kings Park”, these are now placed in synonymy during which time the major under other species but the area still information was gathered. remains important. Many of the early collectors in the colony put the collecting locality as Swan River REFERENCES or Perth and it is quite likely that some of these were collected from BEARD, J.S. 1967. “Natural woodland the vicinity of Mt Eliza. However, in in Kings Park”. West. Aust. Nat. 10: 1839, J.A.L. Preiss, a German botanist, 77-84 105 BENNETT, E.M. 1988. The Bushland MAIN, A.R. and D.L. SERVENTY. Species of Kings Park. Kings Park 1957. Kings Park as an Indigenous Board, West Perth, W.A. park - a natural history appraisal. BENNETT, E.M. 1992. Plants West. Aust. Nat. 6: 25-53. collected by J.A.L. Preiss from Kings MARCHANT, N.G., WHEELER, J.R., Park in 1839. The West. Aust. RYE, B.L., BENNETT, E.M., Naturalist 19,1:17-21. LANDER, N.S. and MacFARLANE, BESSELL-BROWN. 1990. Kings Park T.D. 1987. Flora of the Perth Region. Soil Survey. Kings Park Board, West Western Australian Herbarium, Perth, W.A. Perth, W.A. BETTENAY, E„ McARTHUR, W.M. McARTHUR W.M., and and HINGSTON, F.J. 1960. Soil BETTENAY, E. 1960. The develop¬ associations of the Swan Coastal ment and distribution of the soils of Plain, W.A. Soils and Land Uses the Swan Coastal Plain, Western Series No. 35, C.S.I.R.O., Perth, W.A. Australia. C.S.LR.O. Soil Publication GREEN, J.W. 1985. Census of the No 16. Vascular Plants of Western Australia. MATTISKE, E.M. 1987. Ecological Western Australian Herbarium, Studies - Kings Park. Unpublished Perth. W.A. WILSON, P.G. (1992). The classi¬ HOFFMAN, N. and BROWN, A. fication of Australian species 1992 Orchids of South-west Australia. currently included in Helipterum UWA Press, Nedlands, W.A. (Asteraceae: Gnaphaliae): Part 1. HOPPER, S.D., van LEEUWEN, S„ Nuytsia 8,3: 379-438. BROWN, A.P. and PATRICK. S.J. WYCHERLEY. P.R. (1992). The post¬ 1990. Western Australia’s Endangered settlement history of the bushland Flora. C.A.L.M. Wanneroo, W.A. of Kings Park (Unpublished). 106