Contents

• What are Australian native plants?
• What are exotic plants?
• What are alien plants?
• What are indigenous plants?
• What is provenance and why is it important

What are Australian native plants?

'Australian native' or often just 'native' plants are those plant species that have been growing some where within Australia since before European settlement.

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What are exotic plants?

Exotic plants are those plant species that come from some where else in the world and have been introduced into Australia since European settlement.

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What are alien plants?

Alien plants are those Australian native plant species that have been introduced to your area since European settlement. 

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What are indigenous plants?

Indigenous plants are those plant species that have been growing in your area since before European settlement. In other words they are specifically native to your area and are also referred to as local native plants.

All indigenous plants species are also Australian natives, if your local area is part of Australia of course.

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What is 'provenance' and why is it important?

'Provenance' is another name for 'area' and indicates where the propagation material, used to grow the indigenous plant, was sourced from. 

The idea is that you should select indigenous plants from a provenance as close as possible to your own area. The reasons for this are as follows:

• You will help to preserve the integrity of any local wild populations of the particular plant species that may contain characteristics unique to your area alone. 
• Each area or provenance will have its own subtly different soils and microclimates and plants from that provenance will always be best adapted to them. Plants from other dissimilar provenances are more likely to perish or perform poorly in the long term.

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