Abstract

A RECENT review of the plant geography of Tasmania' has pointed, among other things, to the lack of an adequate vegetation map of the island. The only attempt has been that of Stephens2 in 1941; it is incidental to a survey of the soils, and the boundaries are highly generalized. Representation of the vegetation cover in atlases is often misleading. At least two well-known atlases indicate extensive areas of deciduous forest, and the more usual portrayal of mixed forest in the western part of the island is not a true picture either. The contribution made to physiognomy by the coniferous species is very small, particularly since one of the more frequent conifers, Phyllocladus aspleniifolius, is in fact broad-leafed and not needle-leafed. Conversely, there is also a sprinkling of conifers (Callitris) in the east, and several important needle-leafed angiosperms (for example, Casuarina). The map presented here (Fig. 1) is based on photographic interpretation controlled by ground reconnaissance. It was originally prepared at the scale of eight miles to the inch, but this has been greatly reduced for publication; it was felt that the breadth of the vegetation categories used did not warrant a larger scale. It is to be hoped that more detailed work will eventually lead to something better; meanwhile the present attempt may provide an interim picture, adequate for most general purposes. It will serve at least to point to some of the more outstanding characteristics of vegetation distribution, several of which are worthy of general attention.

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