Native Flora

The Top End (the northernmost 25% of the Territory), is home to a variety of habitats, including rainforest, mangroves, heathlands, swamps, paperbark forests and riparian areas. These are home to over 4,000 species of native plants, about a quarter of which are found in our immediate area.

During the long dry season the water table gradually sinks, sucking all moisture downwards. Young trees form long tap roots to follow the water table and fix them firmly into the earth. Some plants survive the extreme dry via dormancy and a small number of trees are deciduous which helps them reduce water loss from evaporation through their leaves. The dry is a season of high fire risk due to the fuel load of tall grasses, particularly introduced weeds, and lack of moisture on the ground. Many seeds rely on fire to germinate.

Many trees flower and seed during the dry and the build up, just in time for the onset of the short wet when seeds can germinate and seedlings become established. Similarly a large proportion of birds will nest and lay eggs just before the abundance of resources made available by the wet season rains.

As the build up develops and the humidity rises, new shoots appear and plants start to flower, nomadic birds return to feast on ripening berries. Despite soaring temperatures and humidity that challenge even the hardiest humans, this is a time of rejuvenation and liveliness. Almost like a European spring.

Plant communities

Plant communities in northern Australia are classified in three distinct groups, including the sub-groups listed below:

Sandstone habitats

• eucalypt woodland and scrubland;
• monsoon forest;

Lowland habitats

• eucalypt communities such as open forest and open woodland;
• wetlands including freshwater streams;
• floodplains and swamps and monsoon forest;

Coastal habitats

• sand dunes and beaches;
• mangrove communities;
• monsoon forest and vine-thicket.

Types of life forms

A broad and diverse range of plant life can be found in the Top End including:

aquatics, bamboos, climbers, cycads, ferns, herbs, mistletoes, orchids, palms, shrubs and trees.

The list of species identified as living in the Top End and for which any detailed information exists is by no means comprehensive. The book by the Threatened Species Network called "Data deficient species of Litchfield Shire" calls for landowners to take a more proactive approach to familiarising themselves with plants in their own backyard to assist the Network gather data and identify new species.

Only a small proportion of plants are considered endemic to the Northern Territory, for example many vine-forest plants are shared with other parts of Australia as well as other countries such as New Guinea, S.E. Asia, India, Africa and the Americas.

In our quest to learn more about the plants around us we constantly refer to John Brock's "Native Plants of Northern Australia" as a plant identification bible. We highly recommend it to anyone interested in northern Australian native plants.