Vegetation
The main vegetation formation of the Esperance Plains region is mallee-heath; this covers about 58% of the region. Other significant vegetation forms include mallee (17%), scrub-heath (13%) and coastal dune scrub (4%). There is very little woodland; the only woodland communities are some of Eucalyptus marginata (Jarrah), Corymbia calophylla (Marri) and E. wandoo (Wandoo) in valleys of the Stirling Range (1%); and some E. loxophleba (York Gum) and Eucalyptus occidentalis (Flat-topped Yate) woodland in low-lying areas. There is also a small amount of low forest on islands off the coast. 1.7% of the region is unvegetated.
As of 2007, the Esperance Plains is known to contain 3506 indigenous vascular plant species, and a further 294 naturalised alien species. The endangered flora of the Esperance Plains region consists of 72 species, with a further 433 species having been declared Priority Flora under the Department of Environment and Conservation's Declared Rare and Priority Flora List.
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Famous quotes containing the word vegetation:
“I would not have every man nor every part of a man cultivated, any more than I would have every acre of earth cultivated: part will be tillage, but the greater part will be meadow and forest, not only serving an immediate use, but preparing a mould against a distant future, by the annual decay of the vegetation which it supports.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“When the ground was partially bare of snow, and a few warm days had dried its surface somewhat, it was pleasant to compare the first tender signs of the infant year just peeping forth with the stately beauty of the withered vegetation which had withstood the winter ... decent weeds, at least, which widowed Nature wears.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“We love to see any redness in the vegetation of the temperate zone. It is the color of colors. This plant speaks to our blood.... What a perfect maturity it arrives at! It is the emblem of a successful life concluded by a death not premature, which is an ornament to Nature. What if we were to mature as perfectly, root and branch, glowing in the midst of our decay, like the poke!”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)