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Glandular Pink-bell
Tetratheca glandulosa
Family: Tremandaceae
Conservation Status
Vulnerable species in NSW (TSC Act). Also listed as a vulnerable species at national level in the Endangered Species Protection Act.
Distribution
Tetratheca glandulosa is endemic to the Sydney region, where it is restricted to the area between Mangrove Mountain and Port Jackson (Harden 1992).
Pittwater Population
Tetratheca glandulosa has been recorded from six locations in the Pittwater Council area during the last few years, all at Ingleside (appendix, Map 4). It has also been recorded in both Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park (Thomas and Benson 1985) and Garigal National Park (Sheringham and Sanders 1993).
Habitat
Tetratheca glandulosa usually grows on Hawkesbury Sandstone ridges and plateaus in eucalypt woodland, scrub and heath on sandy or rocky soils. James (1997) found that in western Sydney it was often associated with the sandstone/shale interface where soils have a stronger clay influence.
In the Warringah-Pittwater area, it is sometimes found in the endangered Duffys Forest Vegetation Community, which is associated with shale lenses in Hawkesbury Sandstone, but occurs more often in other Hawkesbury Sandstone ridgetop woodland and heath communities (Smith and Smith 1997b, 2000).
Ecology
Tetratheca glandulosa is a spindly, inconspicuous subshrub 20-50 cm high. It flowers mainly between July and November (Harden 1992). The species is fire sensitive, that is adult plants are killed by fire and regenerate after fire only from seed (Sheringham and Sanders 1993).
Species from the same genus, T. ericifolia and T. shiressii, took three to four years to flower following a fire in Brisbane Water National Park (Benson 1985).
Management Issues
- Conservation of remnant bushland
- Habitat degradation in remnant bushland
- Fire management (too frequent fires may exhaust the soil seedbank before it can be replenished, and thus eliminate the species from a site)
- Bushrock removal - identified as adversely affecting this species by NSW Scientific Committee (1999a)
- Translocation (as an alternative to conservation in situ)
- Unauthorised collection of plant material
- Community education
- Lack of knowledge of the species
- Recovery plan (no plan has yet been prepared for this species)
Updated: 06 Dec 2011