Flora of the south west: Bunbury - Augusta - Denmark By Judy Wheeler, Neville Marchant and Margaret Lewington ISBN 0642568162 (set), published in 2002 by University of Western Australia Press in association with the Australian Biological Research Study and the Department of Conservation and Land Management, two volume hard cover set in a slip case, 972 pages Price $165.00 (set) plus $A10 postage within Australia, overseas postage please request a quote

The south west of Western Australia has one of the richest floras in the world. The area, encompassing Bunbury, Augusta and Denmark and the surrounds, has a mild Mediterranean climate, high rainfall, and generally nutrient poor soils.

The vegetation is predominantly forest including major areas karri and jarrah. There are many woodland areas dominated by a wide variety of species including eucalypts, sheoaks, banksias and peppermints. Interspersed through the forests are pockets of swamps, sedgelands and waterways. Coastal areas have their own characteristic floras including heaths, shrublands and riverine and estuarine areas.

This new two volume set is designed to be a user friendly identification manual of all the vascular plants in the area. It describes a total of 2060 of which 1623 are native and 437 are naturalized weeds and is the first descriptive flora of the region.

The first volume contains a key and the monocotyledons, the second volume contains the dicotyledons, both arranged in their respective families. The key section enables the user to identify a plant from the area to genus level using a combination of flower colour, shape and various supplementary characteristics. Line drawings are included for every genus in the key and provide a very useful aid in the identification process. The language is simple and clear, overly complex botanical terms are avoided where there are simple alternatives.

The species descriptions are arranged by family and genus with a brief description of the key characteristics of the genus followed by a detailed botanical description. Individual species are again given a brief description of the key characteristics followed by a description of their habitat and then a detailed botanical description. Additional notes are included where required. Each description is accompanied by line drawings showing key features.

Considerable effort has gone into this book to make it user friendly. The line drawings are of high quality, the layout clear and a glossary of botanical terms has been included. Mini glossaries have been included next to Family headings where terms relating to that family are explained. This simple feature will be of great benefit to many users when identifying specimens. An index of botanical and common names is included in Volume 2.

This set of books is well produced, easy to use and will be a valuable addition on the desks of botanists, field naturalists and anyone interested in the unique flora of this continent.

Table of contents

Volume 1

• Foreword
• Contributors
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Addendum
• How to use the Key Section
• Key Section: White, Yellow, Red, Pink, Blue, Green-Brown
• Plant Families Section: Fern Allies and Ferns, Gymnosperms, Monocotyledons

Volume 2

• Dicotyledons
• Glossary
• Index