Kalgan River - Flora

Flora

The fringing vegetation of the estuarine portion of the Kalgan River is dominated by the Saltwater paperbark trees surrounded by dense stands of coastal saw sedge and shore rushes. The downstream freshwater parts of the river have a much greater variety of species, with a fringing forest that includes swamp paperbark, marri, jarrah, wattle and Western Australian peppermint trees. Further inland, species such as swamp yate, flooded gum and varieties of Banksia and Hakea are found. Parts of the riverbank that have been cleared support a variety of introduced weeds that are shallow rooted. In areas in which the native deep-rooted species have been lost, erosion of the river bank has become a problem. Many wild flowers can be found along the Luke Pen Walk, a trail that follows the river for the 9 km before it reaches Oyster Harbour. Some of the varieties include Hovea trisperma (common hovea), Hovea pungens (devil’s pins), Hovea elliptica (tree hovea), Adenanthos obovatus (basket flower), Lysinema ciliatum (curry flower), Leucopogeon pulchelus (beard heath), Banksia sessilis (parrot bush), Banksia squarrosa (pringle) and Acacia extensa (wiry wattle).