Rainforest Trees and Shrubs: A Field Guide to their Identification (Second Edition)

This field guide to the rainforest trees and shrubs of Victoria, New South Wales and subtropical Queensland has been totally updated since the 2006 version to include new species (this edition now covers 880 species), up to date or currently accepted names and changes to the keys to more readily identify species.   Most traditional floras or identification guides to plants use flowers and fruits as the main means of identification and recognition as these are the most obvious and stable parts of the plant. However, in rainforests the flowers and fruits are usually held high in the canopy of the forest and so difficult to collect and thus determine the name of the plant.   Also, flowers are usually seasonal and produced on the plants for only a short time each year.

The system used in this guide is based on the details of the leaves and branchlets. Leaves can readily be collected from young plants, from trees on the edge of the forest or picked up from the forest floor. This system was largely developed by the late John Williams (of the University of New England, Armidale). Each species has line drawings of leaves and fruit and a description of its main features, its geographic distribution and the type of rainforest in which it grows.