You don't need to memorise hundreds of species to get your bearings. A handful of plant families account for a large share of Tasmania's trees, shrubs and wildflowers, and each has a "look" you can learn. Once you can place a plant in its family, the Key to Tasmanian Dicots does the rest. Here are the families you'll meet most often.
Myrtaceae
the myrtle & eucalypt family
~9 genera · ~56 species in TasmaniaHow to recognise it
Woody shrubs and trees with simple leaves dotted with oil glands that are aromatic when crushed. Flowers are regular, often with many stamens, and the fruit is commonly a woody capsule. This is the family of the eucalypts — the backbone of Tasmania's forests.
Tasmanian examples
Eucalyptus (gums), Melaleuca and Leptospermum (tea-trees), among others.
Proteaceae
the protea family
~12 genera (3 endemic) · ~30 species (17 endemic)How to recognise it
Shrubs to small trees with stiff, leathery leaves that are often lobed or divided. The flowers have a distinctive four-part perianth and frequently form showy heads or spikes; the fruit is often a hard, woody follicle, sometimes gathered into a cone. A strikingly Tasmanian family, rich in species found only here.
Tasmanian examples
Banksia, Hakea, Grevillea, Lomatia, Orites, Telopea (waratah) and the endemic Bellendena (mountain rocket).
Fabaceae
the pea & wattle family
How to recognise it
Look for one of two flower styles: the familiar "pea" flower (a broad upper petal with wing and keel petals below), or the fluffy golden balls and spikes of the wattles. The fruit is a pod. Leaves are often compound, and many members fix nitrogen, so they thrive on poor soils.
Tasmanian examples
Acacia (wattles), plus native peas such as Pultenaea, Bossiaea and Daviesia.
Asteraceae
the daisy family
How to recognise it
What looks like a single daisy "flower" is really a tight head of many tiny flowers. If you can see an outer ring of petal-like ray florets around a central disc, you are almost certainly in this enormous family.
Tasmanian examples
Olearia (daisy-bushes), Brachyscome, Senecio and the alpine snow-daisies (Celmisia).
Ericaceae
the heath family (including the southern epacrids)
How to recognise it
Small, often stiff or needle-like leaves and small tubular or urn-shaped flowers. The southern-hemisphere heaths (epacrids) are now placed in this family, and they are a major feature of Tasmania's heathlands and alpine areas.
Tasmanian examples
Epacris (native heaths), Richea, Sprengelia and Leptecophylla.
Rutaceae
the boronia & citrus family
How to recognise it
Aromatic shrubs whose leaves are dotted with oil glands (hold one to the light to see the translucent dots, and crush it for the scent). Flowers are usually neat and four- or five-parted.
Tasmanian examples
Boronia, Correa (native fuchsia) and Zieria.
Winteraceae
an ancient Gondwanan family
How to recognise it
Best known in Tasmania from the mountain pepper, an aromatic shrub of cool wet forests with peppery leaves and dark berries. It belongs to a very old lineage of flowering plants.
Tasmanian examples
Tasmannia lanceolata (mountain pepper / pepperberry).
A note on classification
Plant families are revised as botanists learn more — the southern heaths, for example, were long treated as their own family (Epacridaceae) before being folded into Ericaceae. The Key to Tasmanian Dicots reflects current treatments, so it is the best place to confirm both the family and the species.
Think you know the family? Confirm the species with the key.
Open the Key to Tasmanian Dicots →