I have to say that this is a great book with quality photos and detailed descriptive text. It covers 85 species of wattle from the Toowoomba and Condamine regions, which is an amazingly diverse area. The layout is well done and presents itself well to the reader. It builds on from a previous book written by Grace Lithgow, which covered 60 species of wattle from the Chinchilla and Murilla Shires and contained mostly line drawings, some colour photos and a similar key system.
Although written for the Condamine Catchment, there are at least 28 species of wattle shown in this book that occur within the Lockyer Valley and a number of species that occur within the coastal regions in SEQ.
I really like the simplistic key in this book as it is based on eight features in four groups: 1) thorny or prickly or neither, 2) flowerheads in spikes or balls, 3) adult leaves (phyllodes) are ferny (bipinnate) or simple, 4) phyllodes with or without one obvious main vein.
Impressive descriptions are provided for each species including distribution, branchlets, phyllodes (leaves), presence/absence of glands, distance of glands to phyllode/petiole, veins, flowers, aril colour and seeds.
There is also a very handy section at the bottom of each page explaining similar species and how they differ. The authors have arranged the book so that similar looking species are shown together, which makes it easier to find species and understand differences between similar species. Included is a glossary, index to botanical and common names, further reading recommendations and useful online resources. Overall, this is a great book for anyone in SEQ who wants to know more about our local wattles.
Review by Martin Bennett