Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia, 87(2), June 2004 
Figure 1. Location of the study area and the distribution of the 
four communities describes from the southern Forrestania 
greenstone belt (Middle Ironcap to Hatter Hill). Type 1, open 
diamond; type 2, solid cross; type 3, solid triangle; type 4 solid 
inverted triangle. 
heaviest rainfalls (to 160 mm) are associated with rain¬ 
bearing depressions forming from tropical depressions 
(Newbey 1988, Anon 1988). The temperature data from 
Hyden show mean maximum temperature is highest in 
January (33.4 °C) with December through April all 
recording mean annual temperatures above 30 °C. Lowest 
mean minimum temperatures of below 5 °C are recorded 
in July and August. 
The Forrestania greenstone belt lies within the Roe 
Botanical District, an area characterized by mallee 
vegetation with some eucalypt woodland in lower 
valleys and scrub heath and Allocasuarina thicket on the 
residual plateau soils (Beard 1990). Beard (1972) first 
described the major structural formations of this area and 
grouped them into vegetation systems. Beard (1972) 
defined the vegetation of the greenstone belt stretching 
from Mt Holland to Hatter Hill as the Forrestania system. 
This system also included granites, quartzites, and 
banded ironstones that formed prominent rocky ridges. 
Beard described sclerophyll woodlands of Eucalyptus 
salmonophloia and E. longicomis but noted that these areas 
had been extensively cut and burnt over and were in 
poor condition. Very few areas of this vegetation type 
were encountered during the current survey. 
A peculiar feature of the Forrestania system was the 
ridges of banded ironstone (Beard 1972), with Mt 
Holland being covered by a dense thicket whose 
dominants included Allocasuarina campestris, Calotlmmnus 
asper , Hakea sp, Dryandra sp, and Callitris preissii subsp 
verrucosa (syn C. tuberculata). Further south at South 
Ironcap the vegetation was a heath with occasional 
scattered E. falcata (syn E. rugulata). Shrubs recorded 
included Banksia sphaerocarpa, Allocasuarina ?dielsiana, 
Isopogon gardneri, Melaleuca ?cardiophylla, Grevillea insignis, 
Adenanthos viridiflorus , Isopogon teretifolius, Callitris roei, 
Calothamnus quadrifidus, Lysinema ciliatum, Lasiopctalum sp 
and Dryandra viscida . At Hatter Hill, a further 25 km 
south-east, the rocky greenstone ridges were covered 
with thickets of Allocasuarina ?dielsiana, and Eucalyptus 
loxophlelm with Cassia chatelainiana, Dodonaea stenozyga, 
Melaleuca acuminata, Calothamnus quadrifidus, Boronia 
inornata and Westringia dampieri. 
Following Beard's work in the area a series of regional 
surveys were undertaken across the eastern goldfields. 
In the report covering the Lake Johnson-Hyden area, 
Newbey & Hnatiuk (1988) detail the regional vegetation 
patterns following a land system approach. They note 
that the three Ironcaps (North, Middle and South) vary 
slightly in their fine grain mosaic of vegetation structure 
and more so in species composition. They further note 
that the vegetation and flora of these ironstones differ 
widely from the nearest other banded ironstone 
formation. The major vegetation type of the greenstone 
belt from Mt Holland to Hatter Hill is Eucalyptus 
flocktoniae (syn £. urna) low woodland which differs from 
the Parker Range and Highclere Hills to the north 
(Newbey & Hnatiuk 1988). Growing in the E. flocktoniae 
low woodlands were other low trees of E. salubris, and E. 
annulata, with tall shrubs of Exocarpos aphyllus, Melaleuca 
cucullata and Melaleuca pauperiflora . Breakaways, a 
common component of goldfield ranges, were only 
recorded once but mallees of Eucalyptus aff wandoo (syn 
Eucalyptus livida) were usually present in small partially 
laterized areas. Both Beard's survey and the later 
biological survey of the eastern goldfields were 
undertaken to provide regional overviews. Consequently 
the individual ranges were not sampled extensively. 
The aim of the present work was to undertake a detailed 
floristic survey of the Forrestania greenstone belt form 
Middle Ironcap to Hatter Hill. This involved the 
compilation of a detailed flora list, and the description of 
the vegetation patterning of the area based on a series of 
permanently located quadrats. 
Methods 
Thirty-eight 20 m x 20 m quadrats were established on 
the southern half of the Forrestania greenstone belt from 
Middle Ironcap south to Hatter Hill (Fig 1). These 
quadrats attempted to cover the major geographical, 
geomorphological and floristic variation found in the 
study area. Care was taken to locate quadrats in the least 
disturbed vegetation available in the area being sampled. 
Within each quadrat all vascular plants were recorded. 
Quadrats were sampled in early September 1996. Data on 
topographical position, slope, aspect, percentage litter, 
percentage bare ground, percentage surface rock 
(bedrock and surfical deposits), and vegetation structure 
were collected from each quadrat. Topographical position 
was scored on a subjective six point scale (ridge tops = 1, 
upper slopes = 2, midslopes = 3, lower slopes = 4, valley 
50 
