page_title: Esperance Plains
section_title: Vegetation
hierarchical_section_title: Esperance Plains / Vegetation
context_page_description: Esperance Plains, also known as Eyre Botanical District, is a biogeographic region in southern Western Australia on the south coast between the Avon Wheatbelt and Hampton regions, and bordered to the north by the Mallee region. It is a plain punctuated by granite and quartz outcrops and ranges, with a semi-arid Mediterranean climate and vegetation consisting mostly of mallee-heath and proteaceous scrub. About half of the region has been cleared for intensive agriculture. Recognised as a bioregion under the Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia, it was first defined by John Stanley Beard in 1980.
context_section_description: The main vegetation formation of the Esperance Plains region is mallee-heath; this covers about 58% of the region. Other significant vegetation forms include mallee (17%), scrub-heath (13%) and coastal dune scrub (4%). There is very little woodland; the only woodland communities are some of Eucalyptus marginata (Jarrah), Corymbia calophylla (Marri) and E. wandoo (Wandoo) in valleys of the Stirling Range (1%); and some E. loxophleba (York Gum) and Eucalyptus occidentalis (Flat-topped Yate) woodland in low-lying areas. There is also a small amount of low forest on islands off the coast. 1.7% of the region is unvegetated.
  As of 2007, the Esperance Plains is known to contain 3506 indigenous vascular plant species, and a further 294 naturalised alien species. The endangered flora of the Esperance Plains region consists of 72 species, with a further 433 species having been declared Priority Flora under the Department of Environment and Conservation's Declared Rare and Priority Flora List.
caption: A scene from the Fitzgerald River National Park, showing scrub-heath on a plain, with granite outcrop on the middle-ground right
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "SONY", "Image Model": "CD MAVICA", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2005:09:18 19:34:39", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "218", "Thumbnail ImageWidth": "160", "Thumbnail ImageLength": "120", "Thumbnail BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Thumbnail Compression": "Uncompressed", "Thumbnail PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Thumbnail StripOffsets": "845", "Thumbnail SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Thumbnail RowsPerStrip": "120", "Thumbnail StripByteCounts": "57600", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail PlanarConfiguration": "1", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/250", "EXIF FNumber": "8", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Aperture Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2005:07:31 13:52:06", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2005:07:31 13:52:06", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "33/16", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Daylight", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "93/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1024", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "768", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "626", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Manual", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}