Flora of Melbourne: a guide to the indigenous plants of the Greater Melbourne area.
Flemington: Hyland House, (2014. fourth edition). Quarto, laminated boards, colour photographs, line drawings, maps.
This long-awaited and greatly expanded fourth edition is a comprehensive guide to the indigenous plants of the Greater Melbourne area. It contains 1367 plant descriptions with colour photographs and line drawings. This guide gives instant, colour-coded access to different plant families (Irises, Grasses, Orchids, Rushes, etc) and an improved, easy-to-use cross-reference system for finding plants native to specific localities. This book is also 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. Flora of Melbourne is an important tool to help us nurture or repair such relationships in an attempt to maintain or re-establish these habitats and the plants within them.