Salt-sensitive Wetland Plants List - Mallee Region

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Waterlogging-tolerant Plants | Ephemeral Annuals | Perennial Fringe-dwellers

The following lists of plants provide examples of normally salt-sensitive species that may have an association with suspected or obvious saline sites. They have been divided into Waterlogging-tolerant Plants, Ephemeral Annuals and Perennial Fringe-dwellers. Some of these species may tolerate slightly saline conditions or brackish waters under some circumstances but generally appear to suffer in growth and persistence if exposed to salt for any extended period of time.

Waterlogging-tolerant Plants
The presence of prolonged waterlogging often suggests associated salinity but many sites can be inundated (i.e. covered) by freshwater only, even through periodic wetting and drying cycles, without any increase in salt concentration. It should be noted that many waterlogging-tolerant plants that grow in freshwater are also tolerant of salinity but such species are listed under Soil-salinity Tolerant Plants, rather than here. Examples include Water-buttons (Cotula coronopifolia), Water Ribbons (Triglochin procera), Common Reed (Phragmites australis) and Annual Beard-grass (Polypogon monspeliensis). The species provided in this list are normally indicators of fresh or near-fresh water conditions but only represent some of the many plants that could be cited. Although the list includes emergent aquatic species (i.e. species with roots growing in water but tops emerging above), floating and submerged aquatics are not included. Many emergent aquatics grow around the edges of permanent water-bodies or in shallow water and are adapted to periods of surface drying. Submerged or floating aquatics generally require permanent inundation, although their seed may survive long periods of drought. Waterlogging-tolerant plants vary in the length of waterlogging or inundation they can tolerate and examples across this range are provided.


^* indicates introduced and exotic species, ^(*) indicates a mixture of exotic and native species

Grasses and Rush-like Plants
*	Flat-sedges	Cyperus spp.
*	Paspalum	Paspalum dilatatum
	Perennial Rye-grass	Lolium perenne
*	Rushes	Juncus spp.
	Sedges	Carex spp.
	Spike-rushes	Eleocharis spp.
	Swamp Wallaby-grass	Amphibromus nervosus
	Water Couch	Paspalum distichum
	Warrego Summer-grass	Paspalidium jubiflorum
Forbs
	Common Nardoo	Marsilea drummondii
*	Docks	Rumex spp.
	Lesser Joyweed	Alternanthera denticulata
*	Ribwort	Plantago lanceolata
	Star Fruit	Damasonium minus
Shrubs and Trees
*	Willows	Salix spp.

Ephemeral Annuals
Many saline sites often support a range of short-lived annuals that essentially germinate, grow, flower and set seed during the wetter phases of a season and before summer evaporation increases salinity concentrations to fatal levels for these normally salt-sensitive species. It is common to find these same species growing in non-saline and non-waterlogged sites as well; many in quite dry conditions. Some annual species may be waterlogging tolerant but many survive by growing on the higher sections of a waterlogged and saline site. Such micro-relief sites include mounds created through pugging or land yabby activity or pedestals left behind after scouring has eroded non-vegetated sections. The occurrence of these species on a wet or moist site during spring may lead an observer to conclude that the site is not saline, whereas closer examination may reveal a number of salt indicator species as well.

^* indicates introduced and exotic species, ^(*) indicates a mixture of exotic and native species

Grasses and Rush-like Plants
	Annual Cat's-tail	Rostraria cristata
	Annual Poa	Poa annua
*	Avellinia	Avellinia michelii
	False Hair-grass	Pentaschistis airoides
*	Great Brome	Bromus diandrus
	Lesser Canary-grass	Phalaris minor
*	Paradoxical Canary-grass	Phalaris paradoxa
*	Red Brome	Bromus rubens
*	Silver grasses	Vulpia spp.
*	Soft Brome	Bromus hordeaceus
*	Wild Oats	Avena fatua
Forbs
*	Capeweed	Arctotheca calendula
*	Clustered Clover	Tribolium glomeratum
*	Hare’s-foot Clover	Trifolium arvense
	Jersey Cudweed	Pseudognaphalium luteoalbum
*	Little Medic	Medicago minima
*	Pimpernel	Anagallis arvensis
*	Tall Fleabane	Conyza bonariensis

Perennial Fringe-dwellers
A number of perennial species grow on the fringes of salt-lakes, saline swamps or saltmarshes but not within the saline soil or saline watertable zone itself. Like the ephemeral annuals, they appear to survive by being most active when lake or swamp water levels are highest, soil profile conditions are wettest but salinity levels are lowest. Unlike some more salt-tolerant species, such as Lesser Sea-spurrey (Spergularia marina), these species do not follow water levels and increased salinity towards the centres of the water-bodies as water levels retreat over summer, and hence they maintain their fringe-dwelling character. Of course, across the range of species found near saline environments, a range of salt-tolerance will also be found, with a consequence that a series of different vegetation zones can often be found radiating out from the salt body. Surprisingly, some fringe-dwellers are only found around saline swamps or lakes and do not grow near fresh water-bodies. In freshwater environments, they may not be able to compete with the more vigorous species normally found there, while at the fringe of saline environments, they seem to occupy a position that likely tolerates seasonal, short-term flushes of low-moderate salinity that freshwater species cannot tolerate.

^* indicates introduced and exotic species, ^(*) indicates a mixture of exotic and native species

Grasses and Rush-like Plants
	Mallee Love-grass	Eragrostis dielsii
Forbs
	Australian Hollyhock	Malva preissiana
	Austral Stork's-bill	Pelargonium australe
	Common Woodruff	Asperula conferta
	New Holland Daisies	Vittadinia spp.
Shrubs and Trees
	Common Eutaxia	Eutaxia microphylla