Flora of Australia Volume 49:
Oceanic Islands 1
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Description
This volume covers the vascular floras of Norfolk Island and Lord Howe Island. Volume 50 deals with Australia’s remaining island territories — Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Island, Ashmore Reef and Cartier Island (all in the Indian Ocean); the Coral Sea Islands in the Pacific; and Macquarie Island, Heard Island and McDonald Island in the Southern Ocean.
Norfolk Island
Lying almost exactly between New Caledonia and New Zealand, and about 625 km from each, Norfolk Island has a notable place in Australian history, firstly for its two periods of convict settlement and then as the new home for the Pitcairn Islanders, descendants of the Bounty mutineers. Its most famous plant is undoubtedly the Norfolk Island Pine (Araucaria heterophylla), extensively planted near the coast in mainland Australia. Although much of the island has been cleared, the Norfolk Island National Park protects about one fifth of the area of the island.
Lord Howe Island
Since its discovery, the island has been less extensively cleared for human settlement and much of the original vegetation remains. The most famous plant export from Lord Howe Island is the Kentia Palm (Howea forsteriana). Lord Howe Island is on the World Heritage List: as well as its high level of endemic flora and its outstanding scenery it is the site of the world’s most southerly coral reef.
For each island there is an introduction to the geography, physical features, climate, vegetation, fauna and history of human occupation. A checklist of the vascular plants recorded on each island follows. A combined key to the families present on either or both islands is provided. Species are arranged in a single family sequence to avoid duplication of description of the large number of species present on both islands. Sixteen pages of colour plates and numerous black and white drawings aid identification and highlight the beauty of the islands.
Of the islands’ native plant species, about 44% are endemic on one or both islands.
The text has been almost entirely written by Mr Peter Green, formerly Deputy Keeper at the Herbarium, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Other contributors are R.O.Belcher (Senecio), J.B.Williams (Parsonsia) and M.D.Tindale (Phymatosorus). Eight illustrators and five photographers from Australia, England, New Zealand and Norfolk Island have also contributed to the volume.
This volume covers 136 families and 703 species. Two new taxa are described and 1 lectotypification is made.
Dedication
This volume is dedicated to Ru Hoogland.
Ruurd Dirk Hoogland was born in Leeuwarden in The Netherlands, receiving his university training at Groningen and Leiden. He was awarded his Ph.D. in 1952 for a revision of Dillenia.
In the same year he joined CSIRO Division of Land Research and Regional Survey as a botanist with the New Guinea Survey Group. Coming from a major European herbarium, he knew the value of a comprehensive systematic library and played a key role in the development of the Canberra herbarium library. In the field, he followed L.J.Brass’s methods of collecting and preparing tropical material, and was instrumental in training other field botanists in the collection of high quality specimens. He also encouraged the practice of collection with replicates, and these were promptly distributed to other herbaria around the world. Ru’s influence in these aspects of herbarium practice were crucial in the early development of what is now the Australian National Herbarium, and laid a firm foundation for its high international status. from 1968 until 1979 he was a Research Fellow with the Taxonomy Unit in the Australian National University’s Research School of Biological Sciences, pursuing his taxonomic studies of Dilleniaceae and other families. In his retirement he returned to Leiden briefly before settling in Paris, where he continues his taxonomic pursuits, most recently as co-author of the landmark volume Family Names in Current Use for Vascular Plants, Bryophytes, and Fungi (Regnum Vegetabile 126, 1993).
Ru has long been interested in the floristics of oceanic islands, and particularly in the floras of Norfolk and Lord Howe Islands. He has visited, studied the vegetation and collected on both islands (Norfolk Island three times; Lord Howe Island once). His extensive collections are attested by the large number of his specimens cited in this work. Although he had an ambition to write a Flora of the two islands, when Peter Green began the work Ru generously and unselfishly made available his very extensive notes, indices etc. on the plants of the islands. He was joint author, with the late Professor John Turner and Dr C.N.Smithers, of The Conservation of Norfolk Island, the Special Publication of the Australian Conservation Foundation in 1968. His influence on the development of this volume has therefore been substantial, and it is appropriate to dedicate it to him.
Note: Dr Hoogland died in Paris on 18 November 1994.
About this book
Book series: Flora of Australia
Publisher: AGPS
Year: 1994
Authors: Various authors
Hardcover ISBN-10: 0 644 29385 3
Hardcover ISBN-13: 978 0 644 29385 3
Softcover ISBN-10: 0 644 29384 5
Softcover ISBN-13: 978 0 644 29384 6
Size: 250 × 176 mm (B5)
Number of pages: xxiii + 681 pages, supplementary glossary, index
Binding: Hardcover and Softcover, section stitched
Illustrations: 63 colour plates, 44 black and white plates, 3 maps