Flora of Australia Volume 50:
Oceanic Islands 2
cover
OUT OF PRINT
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Description
This is one of two volumes in the series covering the vascular floras of Australia’s offshore islands. It deals with 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. Volume 49 deals with Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands in the Tasman Sea.
For each island or island group there is an introduction to the geography, biota, physical features, climate, vegetation and history of human usage. A checklist of the species recorded for each island is followed by a key to the families present there.
Species descriptions are arranged by family rather than by island to avoid duplication when one species occurs on more than one island.
The islands dealt with in this volume cover a wide range of climatic zones:
The tropical islands have temperature ranges between 23 and 29°C, with 80–90% constant humidity and an annual rainfall of 2 000–2 500 mm falling mainly between December and April during monsoonal storms. Many of the islands are tiny coral atolls, some with volcanic origins. The vegetation is varied, ranging from rainforest (some with lianes and epiphytes) to grassland and seagrass meadows.
The subantarctic islands have temperatures constantly near zero degrees, and the annual rainfall is 1 050–1 360 mm usually as light showers on many days of the year. Snow frequently falls and Heard Island is highly glaciated. The vegetation is characterised by fellfield, herbfield, grassland, fen and bog. Heard Island is also significant in containing Australia’s only active volcano.
There are 113 families and 495 species treated in this volume. These comprise 95 families of flowering plants, 17 families of ferns and fern allies (whisk ferns, clubmosses), and a single representative of the ancient cycads.
Eleven contributors, three illustrators and eleven photographers from Australia, England, New Zealand and the United States have prepared this volume.
This volume covers 113 families and 495 species. Two new taxa are described, as well as designations of two lectotypes and a neotype.
Dedication
This volume is dedicated to Alexander S.George, founding Executive Editor of the Flora of Australia.
Alex began his botanical career at the Western Australian Herbarium as a Laboratory Assistant in 1959. He completed a B.A. at the University of Western Australia in 1963, and from 1964 until 1981 held the position of Botanist at the Western Australian Herbarium. In 1981 he came to Canberra as the first Executive Editor of the Flora of Australia. Upon his resignation in January 1993 he returned to Perth as a freelance consultant.
His research career spans many families, with nearly 100 papers published, in preparation or in press. He has made major contributions to, in particular, the taxonomy of the families Orchidaceae, Myrtaceae and Proteaceae. In the latter he is the undisputed world authority on Banksia, and a number of other genera.
The contribution that Alex has made to the Flora project is difficult to over-estimate. He nursed the program through its formative years, encouraging and cajoling contributors until providing a ‘Flora treatment’ became an accepted part of an Australian taxonomic botanist’s life. Together with the Flora Editorial Committee he developed the formats, guidelines and codes of practice that laid the foundations for this significant Flora; he has overseen the extension of the series to embrace the mosses, lichens, algae and fungi; he has helped implement electronic publication methods and he has brought a great sense of history, appreciation of illustration and depth of knowledge and experience of the Australian flora to the series.
About this book
Book series: Flora of Australia
Publisher: AGPS
Year: 1993
Authors: Various authors
Hardcover ISBN-10: 0 644 14446 7
Hardcover ISBN-13: 978 0 644 14446 9
Softcover ISBN-10: 0 644 25875 6
Softcover ISBN-13: 978 0 644 25875 3
Size: 250 × 176 mm (B5)
Number of pages: xxvi + 606 pages, supplementary glossary, index
Binding: Hardcover and Softcover, section stitched
Illustrations: 57 colour plates, 40 black and white plates, 2 maps