UNFORTUNATELY most of us are so new to this land, that we literally have no idea what any of those plants are that make up the rainforests that adorn the hinterland. When I was fortunate to start working with these forests about twenty years ago, the trick was where to start in working out what was what. Fortunately there is a little book, called Rainforest Trees and Shrubs and nicknamed the“Red Book”(not an old fashioned communist manifesto, I assure you!), that literally holds the key to enabling you to identify so much of our local rainforest flora.
Recently we hosted a rainforest identification workshop with Bill McDonald, a principal botanist at the Queensland herbarium and one of the authors of the Red Book. Twenty five people partook in the workshop to learn more about using this book and the key features of some plants to aid in their identification. It’s great to see so many people keen to learn more about their local flora and ecosystems I feel very fortunate to be able to participate in the cultural change that this signifies.
For only a little under three decades now the “Red book” has been available, and made plant identification possible for the wider community . This book is a great tool for those of you who wish to learn more about your local flora. Check out the education link on: www.brushturkey.com.au for this and more ID books. I’d also be interested in gauging interest for public flora ID workshops so drop me a line at spencer.shaw@brushturkey.com.au
Crucial to our living in this land is a need to learn more about it – to know, understand and empathise with our local ecosystems. The indigenous people of this land have many tens of thousands of years of living with, understanding and being of this country. People lived within and were part of the native ecosystems. Ecosystem understanding was fundamental to day to day life. We need to remember and come back to this. We do not live outside of nature and we are very much part of and dependent on nature. When we think we are separate, that’s when things can start to fall apart.
Before I get carried away on too much of a philosophical tangent – where was I? Oh yes learn about your local flora and or fauna!
The trick to learning more about your local flora (that I realised long ago) is you can’t learn everything in the first week, be happy that with hard work and dedication you may only learn one or two new plants a week, for the first few months, then hopefully the momentum builds like a snowball and you’re an amateur botanist in no time at all, well maybe a few years…
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