Indigenous Species
More than 50 indigenous plants can be found in the reserves along the Frankston foreshore.
Trees include:
- Coastal Banksia
- Tea-tree
- Coast Wattle
- Boobialla
- Drooping She-Oak
Smaller shrubs include:
- Coast Beard-Heath
- Seaberry Saltbush
- Coast Daisy Bush
- Sea Box
- Coast Everlasting
- Sticky Daisy-bush
- Coast Pomaderris
- Coast Salt Bush
- White Correa
Climbers and groundcovers include:
- Knobby Club Rush
- Clematis
- Pigface
- Bower Spinach
- Climbing Lignum
- Running Postman
Grasses include:
- Spinifex
- Coast Tussock Grass
Remnant indigenous vegetation on the Frankston foreshore can be divided into four ecological vegetation classes:
- Coastal Dune Grassland (dominated by spinifex and coast salt bush)
- Coast Banksia Woodland (dominated by coastal banksia)
- Coastal Dune Scrub (dominated by coastal tea-tree)
- Coastal Headland Scrub (Olivers Hill, where all plants are highly wind pruned).
Regardless of which vegetation class a plant falls under, they are all faced with surviving in very harsh conditions, mostly on shore salt laden winds, waves and tides, seasonal littoral drift of the beach sand and sandy infertile soils.
It is essential to retain the remnant indigenous vegetation along the Frankston foreshore, to rehabilitate areas where this has been lost and to rejuvenate weed infested areas.
We need a healthy dune system. That means healthy vegetation in all its array of varied plants – the canopy, shrubs, grasses, lilies, sedges and herbs.
Weeds
A weed is a plant that does not belong to the Ecological Vegetation Class (E.V.C.), of the area. A weed can be a threat to the indigenous vegetation by spreading rapidly, replacing or smothering indigenous plants and inhibiting the germination or growth of natural plants.
The viability of an ecological vegetation class can be compromised, sometimes devastated.