Australian Tropical Rain Forest Plants  Trees, Shrubs and Vines
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The Rain Forest

The Australian tropical rain forests contain over 2500 species of higher plants, representing more than 10% of the Australian flora. These rain forests stretch from the lowland and montane tropical rain forests of north east Queensland through to the drier and monsoonal rain forests of the Northern Territory and the Kimberley district of Western Australia (shown in green on the map).

The rain forests of the Wet Tropics area of north east Queensland are the most species rich, with over 1907 species. There is a decrease in species richness along the rainfall (strictly seasonality of rainfall) gradient to the monsoonal rain forests of Western Australia, where there are 332 species.

An interactive identification system for trees, shrubs and vines

Australian Tropical Rain Forest Plants - Trees, Shrubs and Vines is an interactive identification and information system for 2154 species of trees, shrubs and vines of northern Australian rain forests.

The rain forest key is a multiple-entry identification system, where the user decides which characters to choose based on the specimen in hand. This is a simpler identification process than with conventional botanical keys where the user has to work through a series of questions, in which the features to be used in the identification are pre-determined. A total of 138 characters, covering morphology - habit, bark, leaves, flowers, fruits and seedlings - and some geographic and ecological information ensure reliability of the key is high. Interpretation of the character information is assisted with help notes and images.

A comprehensive information system for each species includes common name, the formal scientific name together with nomenclatural synonyms, geographic and ecological information, distinguishing features and natural history notes. The descriptions are combined with high quality colour images for most species, leaf x-ray images and a map showing natural distribution.

Data in the rain forest key

The specimen-based data underlying the rain forest key has been derived from over 17,600 collections held in the CSIRO Atherton Herbarium. Each species is scored for all character sets - bark, leaf, flower, fruit and seedling (138 characters all together). The data represents the culmination of 40 years study by Australia's leading research group on Australian tropical rain forest flora.

Several changes are planned for future versions of the rain forest key. The key will be extended to cover other life forms, the current version now includes 455 species of vines. The future version of the key, of which work is now underway, will include herbs, parasites, ferns, orchids, palms and pandans. Additional capabilities are also planned to make the key easier to use and more informative.

Contributing organisations

Further information

For further information on The Rain Forest Key please contact:

Dr Trevor Whiffin
Department of Botany
La Trobe University
Victoria 3086
email: t.whiffin@latrobe.edu.au

Bernie Hyland
Honorary Research Fellow
CSIRO Plant Industry
Australian National Herbarium (QRS)
PO Box 780 ATHERTON QLD 4883
email: bernie.hyland@csiro.au

Bruce Gray
CSIRO Plant Industry
Australian National Herbarium (QRS)
PO Box 780 ATHERTON QLD 4883
email: bruce.gray@csiro.au

Rebel Elick
CSIRO Plant Industry
Australian National Herbarium (QRS)
PO Box 780 ATHERTON QLD 4883
email: rebel.elick@csiro.au

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