Lower Hunter Lowland Ironbark-Paperbark Forest

A tall sclerophyll open forest with a shrubby mid-stratum of Melaleucas and a ground cover of grasses and graminoids on flats or low rises, mainly between Seaham and Cessnock in the lower Hunter valley to the west of Newcastle. A high cover of Eucalyptus fibrosa is almost always present in the canopy, commonly accompanied by Corymbia maculata. The mid-stratum is layered and includes small trees and shrubs, with Melaleuca nodosa almost always present, typically with high cover, commonly accompanied by Bursaria spinosa, Denhamia silvestris, and occasionally Melaleuca decora or Pultenaea spinosa. The mid-dense ground layer is typically comprised of graminoids, hardy ferns and forbs. Entolasia stricta is almost always present with Cheilanthes sieberi subsp. sieberi and Lepidosperma laterale very frequent. Common ground covers include Microlaena stipoides, Aristida vagans, Dianella caerulea and Vernonia cinerea. This PCT typically occurs at elevations of below 100 metres asl in a hot, moist climate, on Permian sediments often with a moderately high quartz content. It is floristically related to PCT 3448 which also includes Eucalyptus fibrosa and Melaleucas, however occurs on the Cumberland Plain. At higher slope positions this PCT grades into PCT 3444 in which Melaleuca species are typically rare.