The Pre-European Vegetation of the Midlands, Tasmania: A Floristic and Historical Analysis of Vegetation Patterns

Some 83% of the area of native vegetation of the Tasmanian Midlands has been replaced after 170 yr of agricultural exploitation, but scattered remnants of the native vegetation still exist. The floristic variation within and between these remnants was most closely related to soil moisture, as affected by texture and topography. A classification produced 13 groups that comprised subdivisions of grassy communities dominated by Eucalyptus amygdalina forest, E. viminalis, E. pauciflora, E. ovata woodlands and treeless communities. From accounts of surveyors and travellers, survey plans, paintings and standing paddock trees, it was determined that these formations dominated the Midlands at the time of European contact. -from Author