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Back to Fact Sheet Contents Page	Fact Sheet 5
"Australian Plants for Fire Prone Central Coast Gardens"
Fire has been part of the Australian landscape for hundreds of thousands of years, with the plants adapting to its occurrence. All plant material will eventually burn if subjected to enough heat for a long enough time. However, some are able to resist the force of fire better than others. These fire resistant plants are able to slow the progress of a fire and thus help with fire control. Select trees with low oil and resin content in their leaves, smooth bark and high leaf moisture content such as in many of the rainforest plants.
With careful planning, planting and regular maintenance, we can make our properties safer. Plant an 'ember catcher'- a row of tall rainforest trees to catch embers and slow the fire. Regularly clean leaves from gutters and roof valleys. Allow for a clear space around the house. If possible this should be at least 5 metres wide and it needs to be a hard surface or lawn. Don't allow branches to overhang buildings. Avoid growing plants up against the walls of buildings. A fire break can be created by positioning a tennis court, swimming pool, lawn or car parking area between your home and the direct line of a fire threat. Maintain a regular tree and shrub maintenance program, removing excessive growth, dead wood and rake up fallen leaves and sticks. Avoid having a continuous canopy of trees which allows the fire to be carried through the tree tops. Avoid growing rough fibrous bark trees eg. Syncarpia glomulifera -Turpentine tree, or trees that produce long ribbon strips of bark, eg. Eucalyptus viminalis -Manna gum. Fit all external doors with draft sealers, screens to all windows. If possible, avoid using a combustible doormat. Always position your gas bottle with the vent pointing away from the house. If fire threatens and your home uses bottled gas- turn off, disconnect and remove the gas bottles to a fire safe location.
The following list of plants have all shown some resistance to fire- by acting as a windbreak, by absorbing and deflecting the heat, by trapping burning embers and sparks from a fire.
Fire resistant native plants
Prostrate and low growing plants Ajuga australis Austral bugle Chrysocephalum apiculatum Common everlasting Carpobrotus glaucescens Pigface Dichondra repens Kidney weed Grevillea "Bronze Rambler" Grevillea x gaudichaudii Grevillea "Royal Mantle" Hardenbergia violacea False sarsparilla Kennedia prostrata Running postman Myoporum parvifolium Creeping boobialla Myoporum debile Amulla Scaevola aemula Fairy fan flower
Shrubs *Acacia iteaphylla* Flinders Range wattle Acacia sophorae Coastal wattle Anigozanthos species Kangaroo paw Banksia marginata Silver Banksia Banksia spinulosa Hair-pin Banksia Correa glabra Rock Correa Eremophila maculata Emu bush Hakea salicifolia Willow leafed Hakea Myoporum insulare Boobialla Philotheca myoporoides syn. Eriostemon myoporoides Long leaf wax flower Solanum lanceolatum Kangaroo apple
Trees Acacia howittii Sticky wattle Acacia saligna Golden wreath wattle Acacia pravissima Ovens wattle Acacia terminalis Sunshine wattle Angophora costata Dwarf apple Angophora hispida Sydney red gum Banksia integrifolia Coastal Banksia Brachychiton acerifolius Flame tree Lophostemon confertus Brush box Pittosporum undulatum Sweet pittosporum Pittosporum phillyreoides Pittosporum rhombifolium
Rainforest trees Acmena smithii Lilly pilly *Buckinghamia celsissima* Ivory curl tree Cuttsia viburnea Native elderberry Callicoma serratifolia Black wattle Elaeocarpus reticulatus Blueberry ash Glochidion ferdinandi Cheese tree Grevillea robusta Silky oak Hymenosporum flavum Native frangipani Melia azederach White cedar Podocarpus elatus Plum pine Stenocarpus sinuatus Firewheel tree *Buckinghamia celsissima* Ivory Curl
Produced by the Australian Plants Society, Central Coast Group in conjunction with Gosford City Council and Wyong Shire Council.