TheFlora of Melbourneis a resource that assists in the recognition and botanical identification of species while encouraging an awareness of the interrelationships between indigenous plants and animals. It identifies the usefulness of these species, to the local Aborigines in the past, and to all who wish to understand our diminishing natural environment in the present.
TheFlora of Melbourneworks on a few different levels. It provides an important record of the plant life that developed in the Greater Melbourne area over a long period of time. It indicates the probable distribution of plant communities and the species within them prior to European settlement, based on historical data, remnant vegetation, and the prevailing climatic and soil conditions of each area.
At another level it records the breakdown of these important relationships that has led to both the extinction of individual species and the reduction in the range of species from a number of locations across the entire Melbourne area.
Finally,Flora of Melbourneis a tool to help us nurture or repair such relationships in an attempt to maintain or re-establish these habitats and the plants within them.