Ecological Notes on the Vegetation of 80-Mile Beach. 159 
discussed under their I'espective headings. The trees present are stunted and 
often contorted in ai>pearance. Among the shrubs various species of the 
Malvaceae are conspicuous. The Leguminoseae, particularly in the ])indaip 
provide a number of shrubs and small trees. These latter are mostly spe(*ies 
of Acacia. 
The following spectra gi\e a picture for the area and foi’ the two zones. 
It will be seen that tho’e is a large number of annual species. This is rather 
misleading since the (luantity of each of these is small and some species 
were only obsei’ved once, i.e., at the time of collecting. iVnother feature is 
that nearly all s[>ecies are confined to one or other of the zones. 
No. of 
Species. 
M. 
N. 
Ch. 
11. 
Th. 
E. 
Whole Area . . 
192 
15 
28 
9 
S 
37 
1 
Coastal Plain 
65 
11 
12 
17 
9 
49 
— 
Spinifex Pindan 
181 
16 
34 
5 
8.5 
34 
1 
A. Coastal Plain. 
(a) Coastal Sandhills — 
(i) Beach dunes. 
(ii) Triodia sandhills. 
(b) Loam Flats — 
(i) Grass plains. 
(ii) Samphire fiats and claypans. 
(c) Cadgibut Shrubland. 
(a) Coastal Sandhills. 
(i) The beach sandhills are of the normal sand dune type, similar to 
those seen elsewhere along the west coast of Western Australia. Those with 
plant growth have a covering of Spinifex longifolms. Other plants include 
Ipomaea hiloha, Euphorbia mgrtoides, and PtUotus villosiflorus. This asso- 
ciation, which is often almost pure Spinifex, seldom occupies more than the 
hrst row of the^ series of sandhills along the coast. 
(ii) Included under this heading are all the other sandhills of the coastal 
area. They include .stationary sandhills of dune origin as well as those whose 
inner core of limestone is api>arent in outcrops. As has been said above these 
sandhills are the main feature of the ]dain throughout Pardoo, Wallal and 
Nalgi. The vegetation is dominated by tlu' coastal form of Triodia pungent^ 
which has long wiry leaves and a dense tussock habit. Near the coast there 
is a reed like grass, Panicnm sp., mixed with the Triodia. This is less 
appareiit further inland. There are* also patches of Acacia salicina forming 
small thickets in the hollows between the sandhills. 
On the ridges, where red .sand has been deposited, various plants are 
present which, normally, are restricted to the spinifex-pindan country. 
These include Baahinia C unninghamil, Acacia holosericea, Acacia transluccns 
and the form of Triodia pungens which is found in the desert. This last 
has shorter leaves and long trailing culms which are more resinous than 
those of the coastal form. 
The general picture of the coastal plain is that of undulating sandhills 
with a covering of coarse tussock grasses and with small Acacia thickets in 
.some of the hollows. 
