Gibson: Flora and vegetation of Mt Manning Range 
- 1.6 - 1.2 - 0.8 - 0.4 0.0 0.4 0.8 1.2 
ssh 1 
Figure 3. Ordination of the 54 quadrats coded by community type. Arrows show the direction of the best fit linear correlation 
environmental parameters; open arrows P<0.05, solid arrows P<0.001. 
Die Hardy Range. Keighery et al. (1995) concurred that 
the vegetation of the Mt Manning Range area should be 
considered part of Beard's Die Hardy vegetation system. 
Further detailed survey work of the Die Hardy Range is 
needed to assess this. 
The data suggest that floristic variation across the 
range is considerably less than structural variation 
described by Keighery et al. (1995). The present 
classifications allow the placement of the structural 
units described earlier to be set in a topography-soil 
context. 
We were not able to relocate the Dryandra arborea 
shrubland on the top of Mt Manning Range described by 
Keighery et al. (1995) despite extensive searches in the 
region of South East Peak, the ridge to the west, and the 
more extensive ridge to the north. This community type, 
which is common on the massive ironstone tops of the 
Helena & Aurora Range (70 km to the south), must be 
localized in small patches on the Mt Manning Range. 
This decrease in the occurrence of this community type is 
likely to be associated with the decreasing rainfall (Beard 
1972). Dryandra arborea was encountered twice off the 
range, on skeletal soils over decomposing granites and 
on deep yellow sands. Both populations occur on the 
gridline between North West Peak and the Evanston- 
Menzies road. These populations represent the northern 
limits of this species. 
41 
