Nick's Recommendation:
A great resource for researching plants in the Bellarine Geelong and Surf Coast areas. It may be titled 'Flora of Melbourne' but places like the Mornington Peninsula and Western Plains areas are included which cover the bulk of our plants on the Bellarine quite well. Don't be put off from the title, it's application can be used for a wide variety of Victorian Plants and Areas.
Plants include photographs and great pencil drawings. A detailed description using easy to understand terms is given along with soil requirements, mature size of the plant, aspect and Indigenous uses. Something you don't get in a lot of Indigenous plant books! I Find the Soil Requirements and Aboriginal uses very valuable information that I reference for our Plant descriptions.
It is separated into sections with Flowering Plants, Lillies, Grasses, Orchids ect. Plants are in Alphabetical order per section not via family names. Comes with a ribbon for bookmarking.
The Grasses, Sedges and Rushes sections are very valuable as there is very little literature on South East Australian species.
This book is a valuable resource for those just getting into the field of indigenous plants and also caters for more seasoned horticulturists that need references to Identify different species.
A book I never go without at the Nursery. Hard Covered it is nursery proof.. (almost!)
Nick.
Description:
The Flora of Melbourne is a resource that assists in the recognition and botanical identification of species while encouraging an awareness of the interrelationships between indigenous plants and animals. It identifies the usefulness of these species, to the local Aborigines in the past, and to all who wish to understand our diminishing natural environment in the present. The Flora of Melbourne works on a few different levels. It provides an important record of the plant life that developed in the Greater Melbourne area over a long period of time. It indicates the probable distribution of plant communities and the species within them prior to European settlement, based on historical data, remnant vegetation, and the prevailing climatic and soil conditions of each area. At another level it records the breakdown of these important relationships that has led to both the extinction of individual species and the reduction in the range of species from a number of locations across the entire Melbourne area. Finally, Flora of Melbourne is a tool to help us nurture or repair such relationships in an attempt to maintain or re-establish these habitats and the plants within them.* Covers enlarged Greater Melbourne area * Contains 1367 plant descriptions with photos and fine line drawings * Instant, colour-coded access to different plant families (Irises, Grasses, Orchids, Rushes, etc.) * Improved, easy-to-use cross-reference system for finding plants native to specific localities * Expanded list of 220 representative localities with 5 key maps * Separate chapters on Soils, Weeds and Revegetation * Habitat chapter covers Melbourne’s 79 Ecological Vegetation Classes * Symbols for bird- and butterfly-attracting plants * Large-format, 624 pp, Hardback
Pages: 624, Cover: Hardback, Publisher: Hyland House, ISBN: 9781864471229