Chorizema parviflorum Benth. (a shrub) population, Wollongong and Shellharbour local government areas - endangered population listing

The Scientific Committee, established by the Threatened Species Conservation Act, has made a Final Determination to list the population of the shrub Chorizema parviflorum Benth. in the Wollongong and Shellharbour Local Government Areas as an ENDANGERED POPULATION on Part 2 of Schedule 1 of the Act. Listing of Endangered Populations is provided for by Part 2 of the Act.

NSW Scientific Committee - final determination

The Scientific Committee has found that:

1. Chorizema parviflorum (Fabaceae) is an erect or ascending shrub to 50cm cm high with a stout rootstock (B. Wiecek 1991 in Flora of New South Wales Volume 2, ed. G.J. Harden, University of New South Wales Press, Kensington).

2. Chorizema parviflorum is not listed on Schedule 1 of the Act, so that populations are eligible for listing.

3. Chorizema parviflorum occurs in heaths and sclerophyll woodlands and forests on heavy soils in coastal NSW and Queensland. A population of  Chorizema parviflorum occurs in the southern Illawarra area, in the Wollongong and Shellharbour Local Government Areas. This population is of significant conservation value as the last known population in the Illawarra area. This population is disjunct from other remnant populations in western and southwestern Sydney and from two isolated occurrences on the south coast. There is a record of one individual in a tiny fragment of remnant vegetation on the coast at Austinmer in the northern Illawarra, but recent searches have failed to relocate the species at this site.

4. The habitat of Chorizema parviflorum in the Wollongong and Shellharbour LGAs has been severely reduced by clearing and grazing. Only a small number of remnant sites remain, with few plants known from each. The population is threatened by further habitat loss, rubbish dumping, invasion of exotic weeds, track maintenance, power line maintenance and high fire frequency.

5. In view of 2, 3, & 4 above, the Scientific Committee is of the opinion that the population of Chorizema parviflorum in the Wollongong and Shellharbour Local Government Areas is eligible to be listed as an endangered population because its habitat has been so drastically reduced that it is in immediate danger of extinction and it is not a population of a species already listed in Schedule 1 and it is otherwise of significant conservation value.

Proposed Gazettal date: 05/10/01
Exhibition period: 05/10/01 - 0911/01