Rainforests and vine thickets

Many of these species are representatives of the so-called ‘primitive’ flowering plant families such as Winteraceae, Eupomatiaceae, Monimiaceae, Lauraceae, and Cunoniaceae.

Other typical plant families include Capparaceae, Celastraceae, Dilleniaceae, Ebenaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Meliaceae, Myrtaceae, Pittosporaceae, Rubiaceae, Rutaceae, Sapindaceae, Sterculiaceae, and Verbenaceae.

Characteristic genera include Ficus, Toona, Sloanea, Araucaria, Cryptocarya, Diospyros, Syzygium, Archontophoenix, Arthropteris, Linospadix, Calamus, Smilax, Cissus, Platycerium, Adiantum, Asplenium, and Dendrobium.

They tend to have a lower canopy than evergreen rain forests, and are rich in woody lianas and herbaceous epiphytes.

Habitats are diverse, including sandstone gorges and rock outcrops, lowland springs and stream margins, coastal beach ridges, and lateritic formations.

Typical plant genera include Ceratopetalum, Doryphora, Acmena, Quintinia, Endiandra, Caldcluvia, Orites, Marsdenia, Cissus, Blechnum, and Lastreopsis.

[1] Vine thickets grow in dune swales in the Dampier Peninsula of Western Australia's Kimberley region, and are sustained by groundwater from the Broome aquifer and coastal fog during the dry season.

[2] Characteristic genera include Brachychiton, Cassine, Flindersia, Alectryon, Alphitonia, Aphanopetalum, Backhousia, Diospyros, Claoxylon, Clerodendrum, Mallotus, Wilkiea, Celastrus, Pyrrosia, and Pellaea.

Extensive areas of vine thickets have been substantially cleared for agriculture and grazing, including the softwood scrubs in the Brigalow Belt.

In eastern Victoria Atherosperma moschatum and black olive berry (Elaeocarpus holopetalus) are the dominant canopy trees.