Local Native Plants

Local-native - or 'locally indigenous' - plants are those species that originally grew in the area of the City of Playford prior to settlement and widepread land clearance.

Playford's original habitats are strikingly diverse, ranging from the relative heights - and high rainfalls - of Mount Gawler North with its dense Stringybark forests in the east, down through the open woodlands of the One Tree Hill district and across the Mallee scrubs and grasslands of the plains to the coastal samphire flats and mangroves in the west.

However, clearance, agriculture and urbanization has dramatically altered this landscape, with only 3% of the original habitat remaining significantly intact across Playford. This figure declines to less than half of 1% when we consider the plains on its own!

Similarly, there has been a vast influx of exotic species into the area, whether introduced intentionally or otherwise. These have also had a significant disruptive impact.

Therefore we can see that what does remain of the original vegetation is of critical value to our biodiversity.

Species Lists

We have assembled a collection of species lists describing key locally-indigenous plant species across the City -

Playford:

Species of the Hills zone - COP hills species list(45 kb)

Species of the Foothills zone - COP foothills species list(48 kb)

Species of the Plains zone - COP plains species list(63 kb)

Wild Food and Traditional Usage species - COP wild foods species list(99 kb)

External:

Reducing Fire Risks in Gardens developed by Sustainable Landscapes Project and one of several guides distributed by the CFS

The Federal Department of Environment's comprehensive Species List for Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges SA

Plant picture collections

All images are from COP Biodiversity's Flickr site.