Antarctic Beech in the Fog, Macpherson Range, NSW/QLD

Antarctic Beech put us in touch with Gondwana and takes us back before the Ice Age! Surviving in the fog/cloud forests at the top of the Macpherson escarpment (above 900m), these ancient trees are only able to reproduce now by suckering from the root system.

This tree is significant:

• as an outstanding example of this species (Nothofagus moorei) of remnant, pre-European settlement vegetation,

• for its genetic value as a result of its extreme age, rarity and limited distribution,

• for the significant contribution it makes to the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage area, of which this Springbrook National Park is a part,

• as a magnificent old tree, the base of which exhibits the unusual physical features of twisted nodules where the soil has been worn away over centuries, and that its continued survival is only by way of suckering from roots thus generating a coppice,

• for its contemporary appreciation as a much visited natural tourist attraction.

Done