THE FOREST ALONG THE RIDGE OVERLOOKING THE RIVER AND THE DAINTREE VILLAGE is described as being in a successional stage.  It is a forest undergoing changes in its specie types as one specie prepares the way for and is replaced by others until a stable state is reached.
It can be guessed that this hillside was exposed to occasional cyclonic winds and frequent fires over many centuries, until quite recently when only two small fires have been seen in 20 years, one in 2003.  Under such conditions the vegetation will have been an open woodland dominated by eucalypt (gum) trees with wattles (acacias) and sheoak (Allocasuarinas ) as sub canopy trees above an under story of Kangaroo Grass (Themeda triandra) and Bladey Grass (Imperata cylindrical ).

In places of high rainfall such as the Daintree region a reduction in the frequency of fires allows several species of rainforest trees to arrive as "pioneers" which begin to colonise the understory.  If freedom from fire and big blows persist for a few decades the plants of the understory will produce enough shade and damp to prevent eucalypt seeds and seeds of most other open forest species from producing healthy seedlings.  In time the eucalypts and most of the wattle species will die out and be succeeded by a good range of rainforest species.  This is the derivation of the term "successional stage".

At present the tallest trees along the route are eucalypts, most belonging to a species known as the Large Fruited Stringybark or Red Stringybark (Eucalyptus pellita).

The Pink Bloodwood (Eucalyptus intermedia ) and Moreton Bay Ash  (Eucalyptus tesseiaris) can also be seen on route.  Two of the large acacia species seen here are Acacia aulacarpa (with a leaf like a talon or new moon) and Acacia mangium (with a broad leaf).  A smaller wattle, Acacia flavescens flowering (May-June) can easily be distinguished by its pom-pom type flowers and a leaf which has a stepped margin.

Other members of the forest community which can be seen along the route are the Paperbark Mahogony (Tristaniopsis suaveolens) and amongst smaller trees the Cocky-apple (Planchonia careya).

An interesting tree which occupies an intermediate position between open forest and rainforest is the Golden Bouquet Tree (Deplanchea tetraphylla) which carries its leaves in whorls of four and produces clusters of bright yellow flowers.  The seeds are wind driven.

Most of the pioneer plants are dependent on wind to drive their seeds or put out lots of small fleshy fruit which are attractive to birds.  A very common example of plants with wind driven seeds along this route is the "Milky Bean" or (Ristonia muelleriana).

Also common among the pioneers on this route is the Brown Kurrajong (Commersonia bartramia).  It produces small seeds each of which carries a bird attracting tissue called an aril which induces birds to carry the seed about.

Pioneers with a bird enticing fleshy fruit include a tree often referred to as the Ivory Bass Wood, (Polyscias australianum) and a related and decorative specie Celery Wood or Polyscias elegans.  (Polyscias describes the arrangement of flowers, which are arranged on stems somewhat like an umbrella).

The shrubs and rainforest trees seen along the way represent members of several different families.  For example there are native members of the Lychee family, coffee family, Poinsettia/Castor Oil family, Lantana family including a clerodendrum and one quite large growing specie with large broad leaves--the White Beech or (Gmelina Dalrympieana).

Also present en route are an Australian Nutmeg (Myristica Insipida), Davidson's Plum (Davidsonia pruriens) and some tall growing Pandanus.

One of the ancient and interesting plants encountered on the walk is a member of the Cycad family, Bowenia spectabilis, which has probably managed to persist in the grassy forest since the area was last covered by rainforest thousands of years ago.  Each Bowenia plant is either male or female, sending up ferny leaves from tuber-like trunks below the ground.  The plants push up cone-like fruiting heads every few years depending on a particular beetle to carry male spores to the female ovaries.  Cycads such as these are among the primitive pre-flowering plants.

Of the various ferns along the way the most obvious is a climbing fern in the Lygodium group which forms an attractive curtain but its tangled wiry stems are frustrating to deal with when trying to walk through a forest hung with this creeper.

Of the Epiphytes living in the trees one of the more common seen is the Bottlebrush Orchid or Dendrobium smilliae.  These can form fairly large clumps with sprays of small flowers borne in a tight bottlebrush-like cluster in the August to November period.

Being so close to the influences of Euro-Australian settlement has meant that supplies of various exotics have been available for distribution by the birds and wind.  The most obvious import is Travellers Palm (related to bananas).  Lantana, Guinea grass and an edible fruited tree Scolopia jangomas with its thorny trunk are further notable examples.

Notes: In response to a request from the Daintree Village tourism industry in 1994 to the Department of Environment and Heritage, Rupert Russell of Queensland Parks & Wildlife Service Mossman, wrote a descriptive report on the flora of the forest on the Daintree Village Walk. The above text is an extract from that report.  Rupert Russell is also the author of Daintree - Where the Rainforest Meets the Reef - Our Last Paradise at Risk.

A Hard Hike requires some hiking experience and a reasonable level of fitness, as some sections of the trail can be quite steep and uneven. The Daintree Village Walk is considered a hard hike.

A notable birds species is often heard and seen there - the Lovely Fairy-wren.

Daintree Tourism Information