Orchids of Western Australia 2-3 days tour

  The flora of southwestern Australia is very different, particularly at the species level, from that of the rest of the continent. There is a high degree of endemism with eight families endemic to the South Western Australian Floristic Region and more than 80% species endemism. The region is dominated by sclerophyllous shrublands known as kwongan with this tour traversing some of the richest and most diverse.

Kwongan is to be found throughout much of the southwest. It attains its best development in a broad crescent extending from Shark Bay in the north-west to Israelite Bay in the south-east, and mostly inland of the forested belt. 

Kwongan dominates on a variety of soils such as deep siliceous sands, shallow soil over limestone, and lateritic gravel and clay. All sites are very poor in plant nutrients particularly phosphorus and potassium. Fire occurs periodically from both lightning strikes and as a result of man's activities.

The tour is designed to show a portion of the species-rich kwongan of the Southwest Australian Floristic Region (SWAFR) which falls within the Southwestern Australian Biodiversity Hotspot. You will be transecting a climatic cline from south to north with a decline in precipitation and increase in mean daily temperature as we travel north. A second transect will be evident on day 3 when we see both highly stable sandplain vegetation and coastal vegetation that has developed on Holocene dunes (south of Dongara and Cervantes area)