New book on North Stradbroke Island native plants

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The Flora of North Stradbroke Island is a new book that documents the tremendous diversity of plants on Straddie. It provides an excellent reference to all 599 species native to the island, which occur in a variety of habitats, ranging from coastal dunes, tidal wetlands, fresh water wetlands, heathlands, eucalypt forests, rainforests and rocky headlands. 

Plant natives… blossoms in an Island garden. 
Kathy Stephens and Donovan Sharp of the Queensland Herbarium wrote the book, which was sponsored by CRL and supported by the Minjerribah Moorgumpin Elders in Council. It contains keys, botanical description, and photographs to each of the species. Aboriginal uses for specific plants as related by Auntie Margaret Iselin are also included and are of great interest.

Straddie contains 14 species of plant that are listed as Rare and Threatened under the Nature Conservation Act 1992. Two of these are endemic to the island. In addition, the strikingly beautiful yellow swamp orchid Phaius bernaysii only survives on Straddie after the extinction of other populations in southeast Queensland.

The book is on sale at the North Stradbroke Island Historical Museum, at the Point Lookout Newsagent, through the Elders and at the Herbarium.

Barney Hines

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