Your Guide to Naming Local Flora
Guest post by Tim Doolan.
Edited, updated, proofread – Admin.
Image by Andrew Martin from Pixabay
With COVID-19 restrictions keeping us close to home, I hope you’re savoring some quiet time. What better moment to explore resources for identifying native plants?
Beyond asking a pro or hitting Google, where does the everyday person turn for species info? As a newbie years ago, I struggled to find answers. This post is a nod to my past self—a guide for anyone starting out.
I keep returning to a few trusty resources, so here are my top three. This isn’t exhaustive—plenty of Landcare folks at JCU or with botanical brains outshine any book. But for the rest of us, these tools help decode what’s growing around you:
Field Guide to Plants of the Dry Tropics – Keith Townsend (sold at Mary Who Bookshop)
Book cover image. Courtesy: Native Plants Queensland – Townsville Branch.
Best Bits: Stunning visuals make identification a breeze.
It’s compact, so it skips deep details—like natural habitats, which I love for context. Still, each species gets a tight, spot-on paragraph—perfect for a pocket guide.
Across the Top: Gardening with Australian Plants in the Tropics – Keith Townsend (sold at Mary Who Bookshop)
Book cover image. Courtesy: Native Plants Queensland – Townsville Branch.
Best Bits: Massive species list, plus a rare 50-page rundown of Townsville gardening challenges.
It’s light on details and visuals, so it’s not the friendliest field guide for beginners.
Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants (website)
Image: CSIRO, CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Best Bits: Deep dive into tropical rainforest plants with scientific and layman info, great visuals, and fun trivia.
It focuses on rainforests, missing many dryland “Brownsville” species.
Honourable Mention – Even Bigger Plant Nerds Than Me.
At CDTLI, James Cook University, and the Society for Growing Australian Plants, you’ll meet folks with plant knowledge that’s not written anywhere. There’s simply too much to catalogue, so we all cherish our unique gems of wisdom. That’s why we love the adventure of discovery so much.
Best Bits: A wealth of insights, often locked in their minds, not books.