About the Flora of Tasmania Online
Linnaeus’ Species Plantarum was the first published Flora and the beginning of modern botany
What is a Flora?
A Flora such as this one is a specialised botanical publication that describes the most current scientific knowledge of the plants that grow in a particular area, in this case the State of Tasmania (not only the island of Tasmania, but also Macquarie Island and the Bass Strait Islands).
The first published, modern Flora was Carl Linnaeus’ Species Plantarum, pictured on the right.
Before Linnaeus’ publication, the only way to find out a plant’s name, was for someone else to tell you what it was. Linnaeus gave standardised names to all known species of plants and divided them into smaller and smaller groups. For the first time, you could use a book to find out the name of a plant.
Why an online Flora?
The Flora of Tasmania Online replaces Winifred Curtis’ Student’s Flora of Tasmania, which was mostly published over 50 years ago and is gradually becoming less useful for modern botanical work. Making the Flora available online makes it possible to keep the content much more up to date than using a published book format.
Content of this Flora
This Flora aims to present up-to-date information on all flowering plants, both native and naturalised (plants that arrived here from elsewhere) that grow outside of cultivation in Tasmania.
Information for each plant includes the correct scientific name (nomenclature) and other names it has been known as (synonymy), as well as descriptions, keys, and information on other plants it is related to, its distribution and ecology.
The Flora of Tasmania Online is published in separate sections (treatments), each describing one plant family. Content for each family can also be downloaded high-quality PDF format.