Australian Rainforest Fruits

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A Field Guide

By: Wendy Cooper, William T Cooper

eBook - March 2013 - eRetailers

Describes and illustrates 504 rainforest plants from eastern Australia, with stunning colour artwork.

This beautifully illustrated field guide covers 504 of the most common fruiting plants found in Australia's eastern rainforests, as well as a few species that are rare in the wild but generally well-known. These spectacular plants can be seen from Cape York to Victoria, with some species also found in the Northern Territory, Western Australia and overseas. + Full description

Rainforest fruits are often beautifully coloured, and in this guide the species are arranged by colour of ripe fruit, then by size and form. Five broad categories – pink to purple, blue to black, yellow and orange to red, green to brown, and white – allow people with even limited botanical knowledge to identify rainforest fruits.

Each species description is accompanied by a leaf drawing, a distribution map, and diagnostic characters to help the reader distinguish similar species.

Australian Rainforest Fruits includes stunning artwork by Australia’s leading natural history artist, William T Cooper. It will be sought not just by bushwalkers and natural history enthusiasts, but also by those who admire botanical art at its best.

- Short description

Reviews

"Cooper's paintings are so accurate (and often printed life size) that the fruits look like they are resting on the page."
Tim Low, Wildlife Australia, pp. 48-49, Winter 2013

"The illustrations are absolutely beautiful and very charming, making this book not only practical but delightful to own."
Maggie Riddington, Victorian Naturalist, June 2014

"Budding botanists (pun intended) will find this gorgeously illustrated handbook invaluable for tropical trips."
Belinda Smith, Wild, pp. 73, March-April 2013

"...this is a fantastic resource for those interested in learning more about the families, genera and to some extent the species of fruiting rainforest flora... If you're a bit of a Brush Turkey like me and love the look of rainforest fruits, learning more about our outstanding and unique rainforest and also the art of William T. Cooper, then this is a must have for the bookshelf!"
Spencer Shaw, Land for Wildlife South East Queensland, p. 13, July 2013

"A remarkable book"
" Roger Caffin, The Bushwalker, 38 (2), pp. 15, 2013

Details

Features

Identify rainforest fruits without botanical knowledge
Unique work of reference
Stunning artwork by Australia’s leading natural history artist
Collectable
The field guide layout places similar looking fruit together, and nothing like this exists

Introduction
Acknowledgements
Key to rainforest fruit
Pale pink, hot pink, reddish-pink or purple fruit
Blue to black or blackish fruit
Red, orange or yellow fruit
Green to brown fruit
White fruit
Check list of fruiting rainforest plants in eastern Australia (excluding orchids)
Glossary
Index

Authors

Wendy Cooper is the author of two previous titles specialising in fruits of the Australian rainforest. She received a Cassowary Award from The Wet Tropics Management Authority in recognition of her second book, Fruits of the Australian Tropical Rainforest. As a Research Associate at the Australian Tropical Herbarium she is involved in taxonomic studies of selected rainforest genera.

William T Cooper AO is Australia’s leading natural history artist. In 1990 he was awarded the Philadelphia Academy of Science (USA) Gold Medal, and in 1994 he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for his contribution to art and to ornithology. A collection of his original paintings is owned by the National Library of Australia and many others are in private collections around the world.