MERRIMAN CREEK
The right plants for your specific Ecological Vegetation Class (EVC)

MERRIMAN CREEK LANDCARE GROUP -
​THE BEST PLANTS FOR YOUR EVC

EVC's were established by DELWP (now DEECA) as a benchmark as to which areas plant species are indigenous to throughout Victoria. There are many factors determining EVC including soil type, site elevation and proximity to the coast. To select the EVC for your area read the descriptions below and find the one which matches your site the closest or go to the DELWP interactive website Naturekit. In areas where EVC's border each other, there can be a mixture of species from both EVC's. Where this occurs select the EVC which represents the dominant species for that area.

EVC 03 Damp Sands Herb Rich Woodlands
A low, grassy or bracken-dominated eucalypt forest or open woodland to 15 m tall with a large shrub layer and ground layer  rich in herbs, grasses, and orchids. Occurs mainly on flat or undulating areas on moderately fertile, relatively well-drained, deep sandy or loamy topsoils over heavier subsoils (duplex soils).
EVC 16 Lowland Forest
Eucalypt forest to 20 m tall on relatively fertile, moderately well-drained soils in areas of relatively high rainfall. Characterised by the diversity of life forms and species in the understorey including a range of shrubs, grasses and herbs
EVC 23 Herb-rich Foothill Forest
Occurs on relatively fertile, moderately well-drained soils on an extremely wide range of geological types and in areas of moderate to high rainfall. Occupies easterly and southerly aspects mainly on lower slopes and in gullies. A medium to tall open forest or woodland to 25 m tall with a small tree layer over a sparse to dense shrub layer. A high cover and diversity of herbs and grasses in the ground layer characterise this EVC.
EVC 30 Wet Forest
Grows on fertile, well-drained loamy soils on a range of geologies and elevation levels. It is largely restricted to protected sites in gullies and on southern aspects of hills and mountains where rainfall is high and cloud cover at ground level is frequent. Characterised by a tall eucalypt overstorey to 30 m tall with scattered understorey trees over a tall broad-leaved shrubby understorey and a moist, shaded, fern-rich ground layer that is usually dominated by tree-ferns.
EVC 31 Cool Temperate Rainforest
Closed non-eucalypt forest to 25m tall with occasional eucalypt emergents. Occurs in high rainfall areas protected from fire within Wet Forest, The understorey characterised by tree ferns and a rich epiphytic flora. The ground layer is dominated by a diversity of ground ferns.
EVC 48 Heathy Woodland
Spans a variety of geologies but is generally associated with nutrient-poor soils including deep uniform sands (aeolian or outwash) and Tertiary sand/clay which has been altered to form quartzite gravel. Eucalypt-dominated low woodland to 10 m  tall lacking a secondary tree layer and generally supporting a diverse array of narrow or ericoid-leaved shrubs except where frequent fire has reduced this to a dense cover of bracken. Geophytes and annuals can be quite common but the ground cover is normally fairly sparse.
EVC 53 Swamp Scrub
Closed scrub to 8 m tall at low elevations on alluvial deposits along streams or on poorly drained sites with higher nutrient availability. The EVC is dominated by Swamp Paperbark Melaleuca ericifolia (or sometimes Woolly Tea-tree Leptospermum lanigerum) which often forms a dense thicket, out-competing other species. Occasional emergent eucalypts may be present. Where light penetrates to ground level, a moss/lichen/liverwort or herbaceous ground cover is often present.  Dry variants have a grassy/herbaceous ground layer.
EVC 151 Plains Grassy Forest
Open forest to 20 m tall often above a heathy shrub layer and a diverse grassy, sedgy and herbaceous ground layer. Occurs on lowland plains and old river terraces made up of gravelly sandy clays.

Supplementary plants
Merriman Creek    EVC 16 Lowland Forest
Merriman Creek    EVC 48 Heathy Woodland

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