Latest posts
How to grow grass trees from seed
In this article, I show you how easy it is to grow grass trees from seed, how to identify grass tree species, and where to see them in nature in Australia. ...
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How to create a wildlife-friendly garden
If you want to help native animals survive and thrive, convert to a wildlife-friendly garden with local plants. With these 10 easy changes, you can convince local wildlife to stay in your garden. ...
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How to grow wattle trees from seed Wattle propagation
It's easy to grow wattle trees from seed. Wattles are great garden plants and most put on a spectacular display when they flower.
As there are so many species of wattles in Australia, it is not hard to find a suitable one for your garden, no matter where you are in Australia. ...
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Rainforest Trees and Shrubs — Book review
A plant identification book for the botanically minded naturalist to identify rainforest trees and shrubs in Victoria, NSW and subtropical Queensland ...
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Native Trees and Shrubs of South-eastern Australia — Book review
Hobby botanists, naturalists and scientists will find this book very useful. It is a great publication that will help you identify the native trees and shrubs of south-eastern Australia. It also has a comprehensive section about south-eastern Australia's regional ecology and geology. ...
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Birds of Australia — App review
I love the 'Birds of Australia' app. It makes identifying Australian birds in the bush so much easier. It's also a great way to learn more about birds ...
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Huge mangrove dieback
A James Cook University (JCU) scientist says an ‘unprecedented’ dieback event has now been confirmed to have occurred, with surveys showing thousands of hectares of mangroves on the Gulf of Carpentaria suffering a severe dieback ...
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The identity of the Deep-sea Mushroom
The mystery of Dendrogramma enigmatica or 'Deep-sea Mushroom' was born in 1986 when Australian researchers dredged up some strange mushroom-shaped creatures from the bottom of the deep-sea off the Tasmanian coast. These creatures were unlike anything ever seen before ...
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Rainforest Climbing Plants — Book review
This is an essential book for identifying rainforest climbing plants in Victoria, New South Wales and subtropical Queensland (subtropical eastern mainland Australia) ...
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Australian Plants for Canberra Region Gardens — Book review
A book that overflows with colour
This book is written for Canberra region gardeners by Canberra region gardeners. It brings together over 50 years of gardening experience by past and present members of the Australian Native Plants Society—formerly the Society for Growing Australian Plants—Canberra Region. This is the fifth edition, extensively revised and now with illustrations for 934 described plants, with many more forms and cultivars listed. The Australian plants selected for this book are likely to grow well in the Canberra region and in other similar cool climate areas. More than one third of the Australian plants included are native to the Canberra region, while others come from elsewhere in Australia ...
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This book is written for Canberra region gardeners by Canberra region gardeners. It brings together over 50 years of gardening experience by past and present members of the Australian Native Plants Society—formerly the Society for Growing Australian Plants—Canberra Region. This is the fifth edition, extensively revised and now with illustrations for 934 described plants, with many more forms and cultivars listed. The Australian plants selected for this book are likely to grow well in the Canberra region and in other similar cool climate areas. More than one third of the Australian plants included are native to the Canberra region, while others come from elsewhere in Australia ...
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Male pregnancy in seahorses
University of Sydney research discovers that male seahorses nourish and protect their embryos. Seahorse pregnancies are carried by the males but, when it comes to breeding, seahorses have more in common with humans than previously thought.
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A 40 million year penguin parade
The penguin parade may have looked a whole lot different when giant penguins, the size of humans, waddled along the beach at Phillip Island. Today, the Little Penguin, the world’s smallest penguin species, is the only penguin living in Australia. A study led by Museum Victoria and Monash University PhD student, Travis Park has discovered their amazingly diverse history, which stretches back over 38 million years ...
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Latest resource reviews
The Weeds Australia website has information about 398 weed species in Australia; why weeds are a problem; how to identify and record them; and how to manage them ...
The EUCLID Eucalypts of Australia website has an online database and interactive identification tool of eucalyptus (Eucalyptus, Corymbia, Angophora) species in Australia. The database contains information on 934 species and subspecies, and covers all Australian states and territories.
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The cicadas of Australia website is an amazing resource on Australian cicadas. It provides cicada images, scientific and common names ...
Indigenous Plant Use is a small but very interesting booklet on indigenous use of plants of the eastern Kulin Nation (Victoria) ...
Name That Flower is a comprehensive guide to identifying flowering plants and focuses on plant families that occur in Australia ...
This Grassland Flora is a great field guide to the plants of the endangered grasslands in the Southern Tablelands of NSW and the ACT ...
This great book on Black Mountain discusses the mountain's geology, soils, vegetation, plants and animals, fire history and walks ...
The Tasfungi website shares information on Tasmanian fungi. It includes an identification tool and many excellent photographs ...
The Birds in Backyards website is a research, education and conservation program of BirdLife Australia. It focuses on the birds that live where people live and has a great Bird Finder identification tool on its site ...
The North Queensland Plants website is a private site with images of about 2000 Australian plants. It has a focus on plants of North Queensland and all photos are taken in the wild and identified ...
Rainforest Plants of Australia is an interactive identification key and information software package. It includes species descriptions and feature information to identify over 1100 species of rainforest trees, shrubs and climbing plants of mainland eastern Australia. These species may occur in a variety of rainforests from Rockhampton, in Queensland, to Victoria ...
The AusGrass website is a free interactive information system and identification key for 1323 native and naturalised species of grass in Australia ...
The Caterpillar Key is a scientific identification key for Australian caterpillar families. It focuses on families of biosecurity concern to N Australia ...
The FrogID app is a way to both participate in the Australian Museum's FrogID project and to identify the frogs you may find in Australia. It is free ...
The Field Guide to Northern Territory Fauna app describes and illustrates over 600 mammals, birds, fishes, reptiles, frogs and invertebrates in the Northern Territory. It is free ...
The Field Guide to Queensland Fauna app describes and illustrates over 560 mammals, birds, fishes, reptiles, frogs and invertebrates in Queensland. It is free ...
The Field Guide to Western Australian Fauna app describes and illustrates over 250 mammals, birds, fishes, reptiles, frogs and invertebrates in Western Australia. It is free ...
The Field Guide to South Australian Fauna app describes and illustrates over 200 mammals, birds, fishes, reptiles, frogs and invertebrates in South Australia. It is free ...
The Field Guide to Tasmanian Fauna app describes and illustrates over 730 mammals, birds, fishes, reptiles, frogs and invertebrates in Tasmania. It is free ...
The Field Guide to Australian Capital Territory Fauna app describes and illustrates over 730 mammals, birds, fishes, reptiles, frogs and invertebrates in The ACT. It is free ...
The Field Guide to New South Wales Fauna app describes and illustrates over 900 mammals, birds, fishes, reptiles, frogs and invertebrates in New South Wales. It is free ...
The Field Guide to Victorian Fauna app describes and illustrates over 900 mammals, birds, fishes, reptiles, frogs and invertebrates in Victoria. It is free ...
The NatureMapr website is a citizen science platform that helps organisations collect, manage and analyse information from the natural world ...
'Norfolk Island's Fascinating Flora' describes many of Norfolk Island's native and non-native plants. All plants are illustrated with colour photographs ...
Sydney Plant Selector is an interactive selection tool designed by Sydney Water to select suitable plants for gardens in a Sydney climate ...
The NSW Sutherland Plant Selector is an interactive tool designed by Sutherland Shire to select suitable plants for gardens in a local climate ...
Canberra Plant Selector is an interactive tool designed by the ACT Government to select suitable plants for gardens in a Canberra climate ...
The Wildflowers of the Darwin region website shows many plant photographs of the local flora around Darwin. Flowers are organised by colour ...
The Honkey Nuts website displays images and information about native trees and shrubs in the Perth region of Western Australia ...
The Australian Caterpillars and their Butterflies and Moths website has images and links to information on Australian caterpillars, butterflies and moths ...
A Complete Guide to Reptiles of Australia provides a descriptions, distribution map and colour image(s) for all Australian reptiles ...
A Guide to the Beetles of Australia emphasises the environmental role of beetles, their relationships with other plants and animals and their importance to humans ...
The Field Guide to the Butterflies of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) contains species descriptions, life cycle and habitat information as well as photos, maps of records and predicted preferred habitats for the 87 butterfly species occurring in the ACT ...
The second edition of the award-winning book The Complete Field Guide to Butterflies of Australia is a fully updated guide to all butterfly species on Australia’s mainland and remote islands ...
The Plants and Fungi of South Western New South Wales app describes 1100 plants in South Western NSW and includes a tool to identify plants: a great way to learn! ...
The Plants of South Eastern New South Wales app describes 3900 plants in South Eastern NSW and includes a tool to identify plants: a great way to learn! ...
Australian Native Plants: Cultivation and Uses in the Health and Food Industries gives an overview of native food crops commercially grown in Australia.
These include: Anise Myrtle, Bush Tomato, Desert Raisin, Davidson s Plum, Desert Limes, Australian Finger Lime, Kakadu Plum, Lemon Aspen, Lemon Myrtle, Muntries, Native Pepper, Quandong, Riberry, and Wattle Seed ...
Birdscaping Australian Gardens helps you identify the most common Australian garden birds and choose native plants that will attract these birds to your backyard ...
Field Guide to Plants of the Molonglo Valley describes 394 native and exotic species from the Molonglo Valley of the Australian Capital Territory ...
The Grampians in Flower is a pictorial introduction to 400 flowering plants of the Grampians region and surrounding area in central western Victoria ...
A Field Guide to the Grampians Flora describes the most common trees, shrubs, climbers, lilies, grasses, orchids, and fern and fern allies in the Grampians or Gariwerd ...
Kosciusko Alpine Flora is a comprehensive account of the Kosciusko environment and its alpine plants ...
Ocean Shores to Desert Dunes describes 99 vegetation types in NSW and the ACT. Each includes an indicative species list, a location map and photographs ...
Australian Marine Life describes 1450 of the most commonly seen plants and animals of the temperate marine waters of Australia ...
Insects of South-eastern Australia is a unique field guide that uses host plants and behavioural attributes as the starting point for identifying insects ...
The 'Find a bird' page on the Birdlife Australia website has pictures and lots of information on bird identification, location and behaviour ...
The Australian Bugs website has links to many resources about Australian bugs: insects, spiders, ants, bees, wasps, beetles, and more ...
This webpage lists plants identified in The Pinnacle Nature Reserve in Canberra. It also has photographs for some of the plants ...
Census of the flora of the ACT lists the scientific names of native and naturalised plants, fungi, lichens, hornworts, liverworts, mosses and slime moulds ...
This is a plant identification key for trees and shrubs in the ACT reserves of Black Mountain, Mount Ainslie and Mount Majura. The key is based on vegetative characteristics (non flowering or fruiting characteristics) ...
Edible Wattle Seeds of Southern Australia identifies 47 Acacia species that have potential for cultivation in the southern semi-arid region of Australia as a source of seed for human consumption ...
WATTLE Acacias of Australia 2.2 is an online database to identify wattles (Acacia) species in Australia. It contains all known species that have been described to date (2018).
This is a great tool, but requires botanical knowledge and knowledge of the database, Lucid key, functionality. It is available free online ...
This sixth edition of Australian Native Plants describes more than 1500 Australian native plants for the garden and is suitable for gardeners around Australia ...
Eremophila and Allied Genera presents a treatment of species in the Myoporaceae plant family. It provides detailed plant descriptions, as well as analytical drawings, notes on distribution, ecology, conservation status and relationships ...
A Field Guide to the Eremophilas of Western Australia covers 186 formally described and named species of Eremophila that occur naturally in Western Australia. It also provides descriptions of 24 Eremophila species that have not yet been formally named. For each plant the authors provide excellent photographs and a species distribution map for Western Australia ...
FloraNT — Northern Territory Flora Online is the primary online resource for information on the Northern Territory’s flora. Images and distributions maps, species checklists, flora descriptions, conservation and weed status, ecological attributes, and ethno-botanical information are all available. ...
eFlora Sydney — Vascular Plants of the Sydney Region is an interactive, dichotomous key to all species of vascular plants in the Sydney region. The identification keys, plant descriptions and botanical glossary have been adapted from the 5th edition of the Flora of the Sydney Region (Pellow, Henwood and Carolin 2009) ...
The Electronic Flora of South Australia aims to provide a comprehensive online account of the plants of South Australia.
The website includes several components: the Plant Distribution Mapper, the Census of South Australian Plants, Algae and Fungi, plant fact sheets (based on the 1986 edition of the Flora of South Australia), and plant identification tools ...
FloraBase is a public access web-based database of the flora of Western Australia. It provides authoritative scientific information on 12,978 taxa, including descriptions, maps, images, conservation status and nomenclatural details ...
The Atlas of Living Australia (ALA) is a collaborative, national project that aggregates biodiversity data from multiple sources ...
VicFlora is a comprehensive and current guide to the wild plants of Victoria. It includes plant profiles, identification tools and many illustrations. ...
Data on the NSW Flora online website are derived from the printed Flora of New South Wales, augmented with data from electronic sources maintained by the National Herbarium of New South Wales. The website contains plant descriptions, an index, and identification keys to families, genera and species ...
The Flora of Australia online, based on the published Flora of Australia, lists the names, characteristics, distribution and habitat of Australian plants ...
Flora of the Sydney Region is a plant identification guide to over 3000 indigenous or naturalised species in the area from Newcastle to Nowra, and west to Lithgow ...
Plant Life of Western Australia is an interpretation for the general reader of the Vegetation Survey of WA done from 1964 to 1984 by Dr Beard. It was first published in 1990. This new edition has been revised by Alex George. The book makes maximum use of colour illustrations ...
The People of Gariwerd — the Grampians' aboriginal heritage tells how Aboriginal people have maintained an intense and unbroken relationship with the peaks and plains of Gariwerd since the last Ice Age to the present day ...
Adnyamathanha and Beyond: useful plants of an ancient land is about plants in the Flinders Ranges that are significant to the Adnyamathanha Aboriginal people in South Australia. These are the plants that have provided the Adnyamathanha people with plentiful food, medicine, craft and hardware supplies for thousands of years ...
Bushfires & Bushtucker: Aboriginal plant use in Central Australia is a comprehensive survey of desert plants and plant use in Central Australia (Northern Territory). The Pitjantjatjara, Warlpiri, Arrente, Pintupi and many other Central Australian Aboriginal peoples have shared their knowledge with lifelong Centralian Peter Latz to produce this lively and accessible book ...
Ngunnawal Plant Use is a traditional aboriginal plant use guide for the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) region. It describes and illustrates 69 plant species, including their Ngunnawal use, distribution, and method of propagation ...
A Guide to Flowers and Plants of Tasmania is a field guide to common plant species in Tasmania. This is an invaluable companion and reference for bushwalkers, tourists and all those interested in the Tasmanian countryside. Now in its 4th edition, A Guide to Flowers and Plants of Tasmania, has been extensively revised ...
Brisbane and the surrounding region is one of the greenest urban environments in the world. About 2800 species of wild plants survive and mostly flourish in this region. Wild Plants of Greater Brisbane is a field guide to more than 500 species of Brisbane's most familiar wild plants. It describes and illustrates these species, and contains more than 1100 excellent colour photographs ...
Jawoyn Plants and Animals records the traditional aboriginal Jawoyn names and uses of almost 600 plants and animals found on Jawoyn country (Nitmiluk National Park and the Katherine area, Northern Territory) ...
Rainforest Plants of Australia is an interactive identification key and information software package. It includes species descriptions and feature information to identify over 1100 species of rainforest trees, shrubs and climbing plants of mainland eastern Australia. These species may occur in a variety of rainforests from Rockhampton, in Queensland, to Victoria ...
The Field Guide to Useful Native Plants from Temperate Australia has detailed descriptions of over 150 useful plants from Australia's temperate region. More than 600 colour photographs and drawings illustrate the plant descriptions. It contains information on a wide range of uses, such as food, fibre and medicines (including notes on preparation) ...
A Natural History and Field Guide to Australia's Top End is an illustrated field guide to the top end of the Northern Territory. It describes the main habitats and commonly seen animals and plants in these ecosystems and contains many photographs. This is an excellent guide for naturalists who are visiting Australia's tropical north ...
A Field Guide to Central Australia is an illustrated guide to the landscape, plants and animals seen along the main tourist routes of central Australia. It covers the area around Alice Springs, west to Kings Canyon, and south to Uluru and the Simpson Desert ...
Anne Urban's Wildflowers and Plants of Inland Australia is a comprehensive field guide about plants of inland Australia. It covers the area between latitudes 20°S and 26°S of the Northern Territory. Each plant description is illustrated with one or more colour photographs ...
Flowers of the Australian Capital Territory and Region is a field guide to native and introduced plants of this region. Each plant is illustrated with a colour photograph ...
Rainforest Restoration Manual for South-Eastern Australia is a guide to the recovery and restoration of subtropical, warm temperate, cool temperate, gallery, dry, dry gully and littoral rainforests from south-eastern Queensland to Tasmania ...
Flowers of the South Coast and Ranges of New South Wales is a three-part set of books that contain colour photographs of native and introduced plants ...
The Flora of Victoria is a four-volume reference work covering the flowering plants, conifers, and ferns and allied plants that occur in Victoria ...
Native Plants of the Sydney Region is a field guide of the native plants found from Newcastle to Nowra. It contains 1400 great colour photographs ...
Flora of New South Wales is a major four-part work describing the naturally occurring and naturalised plants in New South Wales (including the ACT) ...
Covers the major plants of three-quarters of the continent of Australia. This book features 800 species that are well-known, and can be easily seen throughout inland Australia ...
Trees and Shrubs of North-west Queensland is one of a two-book set on the flora of north-west Queensland. The plant descriptions are supported by many photographs for easy identification in the field ...
Pasture Plants of North-west Queensland is one of a two-book set on the flora of north-west Queensland. It is supported by hundreds of photographs for easy identification in the field ...
Plants of Central Queensland describes and illustrates 240 plants of central Queensland so that they can be readily identified in the field ...
A field guide to the more common plants of outback South Australia with maps and colour photographs ...
A Field Guide to Spiders of Australia uses photographs of living animals to help people identify many of the spiders they encounter ...
Native Plants of Northern Australia presents a comprehensive coverage of the trees and shrubs of the top end of the Northern Territory ...
The Birds of Australia app makes identifying Australian birds in the bush so much easier. It's also a great way to learn more about birds ...
Native Trees and Shrubs of South-eastern Australia is one of the best illustrated tools for field identification of trees and shrubs. It covers areas of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia ...
Rainforest Climbing Plants is a plant identification book for the botanically minded naturalist to identify rainforest climbing plants in Victoria, NSW and subtropical Queensland ...
An identification guide to rainforest trees and shrubs from Victoria, New South Wales and subtropical Queensland using vegetative features ...
Australian Plants for Canberra Region Gardens is a gardening book that overflows with colour! It describes and illustrates 934 plants suitable for Canberra ...
