Farmers, students and people concerned with the fast disappearing native plants found in the grasslands and woodlands of south-eastern Australia now have a comprehensive field guide to these plants.

Co-authored by a senior ecologist with Charles Sturt University, Dr Ian Lunt, the full colour guide, titled Plains Wandering: Exploring the Grassy Plains of South-eastern Australia, identifies the native plants located between Adelaide, Canberra, Melbourne and Tasmania. It includes many plants found on the rolling plains and hills between Albury and Wagga Wagga and around Bathurst.

According to Dr Lunt, lowland grasslands are Australia’s most threatened ecosystems, with less than one per cent remaining since Europeans began clearing these areas for agriculture last century.