Australian 'Rainforest Trees and
Shrubs' Field Guide
Front
cover photo:
Sterculia quadrifida
Back cover photos
(clockwise from top left) Syzygium oleosum, Brachychiton bidwillii, Cupaniopsis flagelliformis, Toechima dasyrrhache, Pittosporum revolutum, Aidia racemosa, Sterculia quadrifida, Elattostachys xylocarpa, Hedycarya angustifolia, Endiandra floydii, Diospyros mabacea, Erythroxylum species ‘Splityard Creek’, Diploglottis campbellii, Clerodendrum floribundum, Tabernaemontana
pandacaqui.
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RAINFOREST TREES AND SHRUBS
An enlarged and revised field guide to their identification
Authors: Gwen Harden, Bill McDonald & John Williams
A field guide to the rainforest trees and shrubs of Victoria,
NSW
and sub-tropical Queensland using vegetative characters.
Updated
Edition now enlarged to also include:-
Rainforests of mainland eastern Australia south of the
tropics
Now covers Rockhampton in Qld
to NSW and Victoria
Species in vine thickets, the drier inland extensions of rainforests
More marginal, early pioneer and 'gap' species
This latest edition runs to 300 A4 size pages.
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Most traditional floras or identification guides to plants use flowers and fruits as the main means of identification and recognition as these are the most obvious and stable parts of the plant. However, in rainforests the flowers and fruits are usually held high in the canopy of the forest and so difficult to collect and thus determine the name of the plant. Also, flowers are usually seasonal and produced on the plants for only a short time each year.
The system used in this guide is based on the details of the leaves and branchlets. Leaves can readily be collected from young plants, from trees on the edge of the forest or picked up from the forest floor. This system was largely developed by the late John Williams (of the University of New England, Armidale). Each species has line drawings of leaves and fruit and a description of its main features, its geographic distribution and the type of rainforest in which it grows.
This book is the successor to Trees and Shrubs in Rainforest of New South Wales and southern Queensland (Williams, Harden & McDonald 1984), which was known by many as the
'Red Book'. This earlier book has been widely used by professional botanists and ecologists, environmental consultants and planners and by rainforest enthusiasts and gardeners.
This book has now been completely rewritten, while keeping the essentials of the original format.
It will enable the identification of rainforest trees and shrubs using vegetative features. It has been brought up to date with additional species and more comprehensive information.
Rainforest Trees and Shrubs includes descriptions of 850 species (an increase of 309 from the
earlier 'Red Book'), each with leaf and fruit drawings.
Gwen
Harden Publishing
www.rainforests.net.au
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