 BOOK
REVIEWS
Horticultural Flora of South-Eastern Australia
The Identification of Garden and Cultivated Plants
Volume 1: Ferns, Conifers and their Allies
Edited by Roger
Spence
Published by University of New South Wales Press
Reviewed by Mike Oates
This
is the first in a four-volume series from the University of New
South Wales Press which will cover all the native and exotic plants
cultivated in Victoria, Tasmania, NSW, South Australia, and southern
Queensland. It parallels the European Garden Flora.
Produced in conjunction
with the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne, the book will appeal to
all those interested in the cultivation of plants in Australia,
and with the many similarities of climate will also have use this
side of the Tasman. The Flora has:
- Easy
to use identification keys
- Detailed
descriptions of families, genera, species and cultivars
- Notes
on propagation, uses, ecology, cultivation, origins, distribution,
and conservation
- Indicates
where prominent specimens can be seen with details of public
gardens and collections
This major work raises
the question of what we are doing in New Zealand to document our
cultivated plant resource. The work of the RNZIH Plant Collections
Scheme has started the documentation of cultivated plants but much
remains to be done. Perhaps it is time for several groups and institutions
to start working together on such a project as this.
New
Zealand Garden Journal: Journal of the Royal New Zealand Institute
of Horticulture 1996 1(2): 24
Reviews Main Page |
