Robertson Nature Reserve is a rainforest

Rainforest

Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...

 reserve near Robertson, New South Wales

Robertson, New South Wales

Robertson is a small town in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, in Wingecarribee Shire. The town is located on the edge of an elevated plateau about 35 km from the coast. At the 2006 census, Robertson had a population of 1,206 people.Robertson is known for its high annual...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. A remnant of the Yarrawa Brush, once 2,450 hectares in size. This tiny reserve contains 4.5 hectares of original rainforest.

A 600 metre track through the forest is suitable to wheelchairs, with several signs with information on local plants and animals. The reserve is situated on the outskirts of town, at 750 metres above sea level, near the edge of the Illawarra Escarpment

Illawarra escarpment

The Illawarra Escarpment is the fold created cliffs and plateau eroded outcrop mountain range west of the Illawarra coastal plain south of Sydney, Australia, enclosing the region known as the Illawarra which stretches from Stanwell Park in the north to Kiama, Gerringong and the Shoalhaven river in...

.

Despite the relatively rich basalt

Basalt

Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...

ic soils, and 1600 mm of average annual rainfall, the rainforest has a low 15 metre canopy, with only a few trees taller than 20 metres. Because of small size and isolation, the reserve is subject to weed attack. Chinese Privet

Chinese Privet

Ligustrum sinense , in Mandarin; 杻 is a species of privet, native to China, Taiwan and Vietnam....

 and Glossy Privet

Ligustrum lucidum

Ligustrum lucidum is a species of privet native to the southern half of China.-Growth:It is the largest species in the genus, growing as a tree up to 25 m tall...

, Holly and Himalayan Blackberry

Rubus armeniacus

Rubus armeniacus, Armenian Blackberry or Himalayan Blackberry, is a species of Rubus in the blackberry group Rubus subgenus Rubus series Discolores Focke. It is native to Armenia in southwest Asia, and widely naturalised elsewhere...

 being particularly troublesome.

Categorised by A.G.Floyd as warm temperate rainforest, (not cool temperate). The canopy is dominated by warm temperate rainforest trees such as Golden Sassafras

Doryphora sassafras

Doryphora sassafras, commonly known as Sassafras, Yellow-, Canary- or Golden sassafras, or Golden Deal, is a species of evergreen tree of the family Atherospermataceae native to the subtropical and temperate rainforests of eastern New South Wales and Queensland, Australia...

, Coachwood

Coachwood

Ceratopetalum apetalum, Coachwood, also called Scented Satinwood or Tarwood, is a medium-sized hardwood tree, straight-growing with smooth, fragrant, greyish bark. It is in the family Cunoniaceae...

, Lilly Pilly

Acmena smithii

Syzygium smithii is a summer flowering evergreen tree, belonging to the myrtle family Myrtaceae. It is commonly planted as shrubs or hedgerows. It features rough woody bark, cream and green smooth waxy leaves with flushes of pink new growth and pink to mauve edible berries. It shares the common...

, Native Daphne, Possumwood

Quintinia sieberi

Quintinia sieberi known as the Possumwood is a rainforest tree of eastern Australia. It's mostly found in rainforests at high altitude...

, Beefwood

Stenocarpus salignus

Stenocarpus salignus, known as the Scrub Beefwood is an Australian rainforest tree in the Proteaceae family. Found in warmer rainforests on the coast and ranges. It is often found in warm temperate rainforest on poorer sedimentary soils, or on volcanic soils above 750 metres above sea level...

, Featherwood

Polyosma cunninghamii

Polyosma cunninghamii, known as the Featherwood, is a small rainforest tree of eastern Australia. It grows in many different types of rainforest, however seldom found in the drier rainforests. It's often seen in the cooler rainforests at high altitude...

 and Blackwood. Genuine cool temperate rainforest trees such as Pinkwood and Black Olive Berry are either absent or inconspicuous. A common tree species is the Brown Beech

Pennantia cunninghamii

Pennantia cunninghamii known as the Brown Beech is a rainforest tree of eastern Australia. The range of natural distribution is from Clyde Mountain near Batemans Bay in southern New South Wales to Atherton in tropical Queensland ....

, usually associated with tropical or sub-tropical rainforests.