About Plant Neighbourhood

01Site

Search an address or tap the map. The tool shows plant communities modelled on and around your site, within 15 km by default. Explore nearby communities with conditions relevant to your project. It covers Victoria and New South Wales.

02Palette builder

Gather, explore and choose, in any order. If you're starting from your own plant list, begin here.

Explore

Plant communities near your site

Each state maps the plant communities that covered the land before clearing, around 1750: Ecological Vegetation Classes (EVCs) in Victoria, Plant Community Types (PCTs) in New South Wales. The tool lists every community within your search radius, nearest first, with its conservation status. Select those relevant to your site, including neighbouring plant communities with conditions you want to draw on.

Reference species lists

Reference species lists describe plants typical of a community, rather than everything that could grow there. The tool gathers the available lists for the communities you select. How the reference lists work

Local plant records

Reference lists name a community's typical species, not everything that grows in the area. Local plant records add documented observations from surveys, research and other contributors, through the Victorian Biodiversity Atlas or the NSW BioNet Atlas. They can reveal species worth investigating, including lilies, orchids and sedges absent from a selected list. Each record needs to be considered in context.

A record shows a plant was found nearby, not that it's indigenous to your site: some records are of planted or escaped plants, and dates and accuracy vary. A record together with a relevant reference list is strong evidence that a species is locally indigenous.

BYO List

Bring your own plant list: an Excel or CSV planting schedule, or a pasted list. Each name is matched to its current botanical name, including common names and likely misspellings, and given a verdict (below) with its evidence. Where a species lacks local support, the tool suggests alternatives when available. Any plant can be added to your planting palette, and the results can be exported.

Planting palette

Your planting palette holds the species you're considering: plants from selected reference lists and neighbouring communities, and any you've added yourself. Each planting zone's selection is chosen from it, to suit the zone's conditions and your design intent. Set a zone's conditions and the plant community it's Modelled on, and the tool can generate a starting selection with that community's balance of trees, shrubs, grasses and groundcovers.

Each plant shows its layer and life form, the reference lists that name it, whether it has been recorded nearby, and a link to VicFlora or PlantNET. Filter by layer, plant community, height, site fit and more, and export to Excel or CSV.

03Selection and schedule

Set proportions, planting densities, supply sizes and quantities for each zone, then export a schedule for your nursery or contractor. An indigenous species isn't necessarily local-provenance stock, so ask your nursery where the seed or cuttings came from, and request local provenance where it's available.

04Scorecard

See how the selection performs, for the whole project or one zone: canopy cover, months in flower, indigenous share, the 10-20-30 rule for diversity and more, each with the plants behind it. Download it as an image or PDF.

Each plant you check gets a verdict based on the selected reference lists and local records. It describes the evidence for local indigeneity, not whether a plant will suit your site. Exports show each verdict's evidence code (A to D).

Plant Neighbourhood is built on published government vegetation science and plant records. This section explains each source, how the tool uses it and where its limits are. Each state has its own data, so each is listed separately.

Plant communities before clearing

Each state maps the plant communities that grew across the land before clearing, around 1750. These maps are modelled: they predict what grew where vegetation has since been cleared, from remnant vegetation, survey records, soils and landform. They provide a regional historical reference, not a survey of any one site. Confirm site conditions and any remnant vegetation before making a selection.

• Victoria: DEECA's Modelled 1750 Ecological Vegetation Classes (EVCs), with each EVC's bioregional conservation status. The tool searches a square area around your site, so distances are approximate.
• New South Wales: DCCEEW's State Vegetation Type Map (Pre-Clearing), which maps Plant Community Types (PCTs) at regional scale. Status shows how much of each PCT has been cleared across New South Wales, and whether it's part of a threatened ecological community.

Reference species lists

For each plant community, the state publishes a description of that vegetation in good condition, including its typical species. These lists are the strongest evidence the tool uses that a plant belongs to a community. They name typical species, so they're indicative, not complete.

• Victoria: EVC benchmarks (DEECA), written for assessing vegetation condition. Benchmarks vary by bioregion, so each is matched to the bioregion of the mapped EVC. The tool holds benchmarks for all 28 Victorian bioregions, plus the statewide wetland benchmarks (September 2024 update), which list indicator species without life forms. Species, life forms, conservation codes and typical weeds were extracted from DEECA's published documents; check lists marked extracted · check source against the original before professional use.
• New South Wales: PCT species lists from the BioNet Vegetation Classification (DCCEEW). Each PCT is defined from vegetation survey plots, and BioNet lists every native recorded in them, with the share of plots it was found in. A species in 90% of plots is a backbone of the community; one in 2% is occasional. The tool holds lists for every PCT in all 18 New South Wales bioregions and includes species found in at least 10% of a community's plots. Many inland and western PCTs were defined from expert descriptions rather than survey plots, so have no plot list. For those, the tool uses the native species named in the PCT's published description. These lists are shorter, often just the dominant species, and are marked extracted · check source.

Plain-English community descriptions

Each plant community's page opens with a short description written in plain English from the state's own benchmark or profile: its description, structure and typical species. It summarises; it adds nothing the source doesn't support, and it doesn't describe what grew on any particular site. One description covers a community type wherever it grows; the line naming its main plants is taken directly from each region's reference list, so it changes from bioregion to bioregion. Descriptions are checked against their sources, most-read first; if you spot a mistake, let us know. The benchmark or profile linked on each page is the authority.

Choosing a variant (Victoria)

Some EVCs have more than one version, or variant, within a bioregion. Plains Grassland on the Victorian Volcanic Plain, for example, has a Heavier-soils variant and a Low-rainfall variant, each with its own species list, because different soils, rainfall or tree cover support different plants.

DEECA's map says which EVC grew at a spot, not which variant, so the tool looks at the native plants recorded near your site. It suggests a variant when at least three species found only on that variant's list are recorded nearby (or all of them, if it has fewer), and at least twice as many as for any other variant. The suggestion is marked suggested from local records.

Where the records don't point clearly to one variant, every variant is included, so your palette will be broader. Either way, compare the variant names with what you know of your site (its soils, rainfall, landform and any remnant vegetation nearby) and select the ones that fit.

Mosaics and complexes (Victoria)

DEECA publishes no benchmark for a mosaic or complex, such as Plains Grassy Woodland/Gilgai Wetland Mosaic. The tool combines the benchmarks of its parts in the same bioregion, or the statewide wetland benchmarks. Where a part has no benchmark in your bioregion but has one elsewhere in Victoria, you can add it by name in the palette builder.

Benchmarks from another bioregion (Victoria)

A few EVCs have a benchmark only for a neighbouring bioregion. Chenopod Mallee, for example, has one for the Murray Mallee but none for the Lowan Mallee. The palette builder offers the neighbouring benchmark, off by default and labelled with the bioregion it came from. The species are usually similar but not identical, so check them against what you know of your site.

Local plant records

Local records are documented occurrences in the surrounding landscape, from ecological surveys, scientific work and submitted observations. They point to other species worth investigating and show the area's recorded botanical character. They are not a complete survey of what grows there today.

• Victoria: Victorian Biodiversity Atlas public flora records, located to within ±500 m (a wider layer with less precise locations is also available). Locations of sensitive species are restricted. Here, native means native to Victoria, not necessarily indigenous to your site.
• New South Wales: BioNet Atlas public flora records, including systematic surveys and other reported sightings. Accuracy varies; locations of sensitive species are withheld or generalised.
• Anywhere in Australia: the Atlas of Living Australia, which combines the state atlases, herbarium specimens, surveys and community observations such as iNaturalist. It usually finds more species than a state atlas alone, including recent ones, but its records are less vetted. Garden specimens and automatic identifications are excluded. The latest record is given as a period (2020 or later, the 2010s, the 2000s, or 1980 to 1999). Here, native means native to Australia, not necessarily indigenous to your site.

Survey effort varies, and records may be old, imprecise or of planted and escaped plants. The number of records doesn't measure abundance, and no record doesn't mean a species is absent. That's why the Local, sightings only verdict is weaker than support from a selected reference list.

Plant names

Botanical names change as plants are revised, and reference lists, records and nursery lists don't always agree. The tool matches every name to its current accepted name using the Australian Plant Census, VicFlora and PlantNET. Older names, common names and likely misspellings are matched, and you confirm any uncertain match. The Census also records whether each plant is native to Australia or naturalised.

Weeds

A plant gets the Weed verdict when it isn't native and is on a government weed list for your site's state: declared there (sale banned), a Weed of National Significance, or a very high, high or moderately high risk environmental weed on Victoria's advisory list. A listing in another state shows as Weed elsewhere. A record in the Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species names no state or level of risk, so it's a note in the plant's details, not a flag. Any plant can join your palette, but you're asked to confirm before a weed goes into a selection. Natives on a weed list stay natives but are flagged, as is any species a selected reference list names as a typical weed.

Threatened plants

A threatened plant shows its status and the law it's listed under: Endangered (EPBC) under the national EPBC Act, Endangered (BC Act) under the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Act, or Endangered (FFG) under the Victorian Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act. Tags show the national listing and your site's state; listings in other states are in the plant's details and exports. A plant named only to species shows Subspecies threatened when one or more of its subspecies is listed. Each tag names its list and when it was last updated.

Threatened plants stay in the palette, so the plant community is shown in full. They can carry approval, provenance and seed-collection requirements. The tool states the status; it doesn't decide whether a planting is permitted. Check with the relevant authority before specifying one.

Plant traits and site fit

Sizes, habit and growing conditions come from the Master Trait List: 2,339 Australian native plants, with the source of every value recorded. Values come from VicFlora (Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria), AusTraits and other published horticultural sources. Where no published value was found, the value is an estimate.

Site fit (suits, marginal or unsuited) compares these traits with the conditions you set for each zone.

Nursery availability and provenance

Nursery marks (widely sold, indigenous nurseries, specialist) are estimates, not live stock. The tool can show that a species is indigenous to your area, but not where a nursery's plants came from. Ask your supplier for the seed or cutting source, and request local provenance where it's available. The exported schedule has a field for the nursery to fill in.

• Exploring the plant communities of a site and its neighbourhood to inform a planting project
• Indigenous planting palettes for landscape, council and revegetation projects
• Checking a contractor's or nursery's plant list against local ecological evidence
• Helping home gardeners plant what belongs in their area

Every state maps its plant communities before clearing and describes their typical species, but each uses its own names. Plant Neighbourhood uses the same plain terms everywhere, with the state's own term alongside. The systems are close equivalents, not identical: each was written for a slightly different purpose, and their species lists vary in depth.

• Modelled 1750 EVCs with bioregional conservation status (DEECA), fetched live
• Victorian Biodiversity Atlas flora records (DEECA), fetched live
• Bioregion EVC benchmarks (DEECA) and the wetland EVC benchmarks, September 2024 update, extracted from the published documents and stored in the tool
• NSW State Vegetation Type Map (Pre-Clearing) (DCCEEW), fetched live
• BioNet Vegetation Classification PCT species data (DCCEEW), downloaded from the BioNet web service and stored in the tool
• BioNet Atlas plant sightings (DCCEEW), fetched live
• Plant names: VicFlora (Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria) and PlantNET (Botanic Gardens of Sydney)
• Australian plant names, and whether each is native or naturalised: Australian Plant Census (Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria, CC BY 4.0), via the APCalign release of 30 July 2026
• Invasive introduced plants: Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species – Australia (GRIIS, via GBIF, CC BY 4.0)
• Declared weeds in every state and territory: Declared weeds in Australia prohibited to trade (Environment and Invasives Committee Weeds Working Group, 2023), and Weeds of National Significance
• Victorian environmental weeds: Advisory list of environmental weeds in Victoria (DELWP 2018), where loaded
• Address search: OpenStreetMap

Government data © State of Victoria and © State of New South Wales and DCCEEW, licensed CC BY 4.0. Address search © OpenStreetMap contributors.

• The 1750 vegetation map is modelled, not surveyed. Confirm the vegetation on site.
• Coverage is Victoria (all 28 bioregions, plus the statewide wetland benchmarks) and New South Wales (all 18 bioregions). Other states are planned.
• Reference species lists are indicative, not exhaustive. See Methods and data for each source's limits.
• The tool supports, but does not replace, site assessment and professional judgement.

The tool records anonymous usage, to learn which long-time locals people choose and which get overlooked: which species are shown, added, removed, exported and checked, and the bioregion and plant communities they were for. It never records your address, site location or anything that identifies you, and it uses no cookies. Findings may be shared in summary, by bioregion, to help nurseries and others grow more local plants.

If your browser asks sites not to track you (Global Privacy Control or Do Not Track), nothing is recorded. Files you open and lists you paste stay in your browser, apart from the plant names.

Plants grow in communities. The species that naturally occur near your place are part of a local neighbourhood, sharing habitat with insects, birds and other wildlife. Learning which plants belong there can help you choose what to grow.

These communities belong to Country, shaped by it and by Aboriginal people’s care.

Every site is on Aboriginal Country. To find the Traditional Owners of your site's area:

• Victoria: the Aboriginal Heritage Council's map of Registered Aboriginal Parties
• New South Wales: find your Local Aboriginal Land Council