“Book Review”

Nature Guide to the New Zealand Forest
By John Dawson and Rob Lucas
Godwit 2000
$45 softcover

This attractive and well-written book forms a useful and informative guide for anyone interested in our native forests. Writer John Dawson and photographer Rob Lucas have successfully collaborated with two previous books on native plants; ‘Lifestyles of New Zealand Forest Plants’ (1993), and ‘New Zealand Coast and Mountain Plants’ (1996), both published by Victoria University Press.
Dawson, a retired Botany Lecturer from Victoria University, is skilled at presented factual information in an interesting way, and Lucas ranks as perhaps our finest photographer of native plants. The diversity of subjects he’s covered is remarkable, and includes images of plants in their often-hard-to-photograph flowering or fruiting phases. His fine, often artistic images of native plants are supplemented by those of native animals taken by other leading natural history photographers. Overall there are some 500 photographs.
‘Nature Guide’ introduces the unique elements of New Zealand’s native forests, with a description of the major forest types. The remainder of the book is divided into broad sections (colour-coded to aid the reader) that cover ‘Trees and Shrubs’, ‘Vines, Epiphytes and Mistletoes’, ‘The Forest Floor’, ‘Birds’, ‘Reptiles, Frogs and Bats’, and finally ‘Insects and other Invertebrates’. There’s a description of major species, and useful sections comparing plant leaf shape to help with identification. Interesting fact boxes give additional information – one describes how tree ferns make trunks, while another discusses the differences between juvenile and adult foliage in divaricating shrubs.
An extensive index, and ‘further reading’ section complete a book that’s easy to find your way around, despite nearly 300 pages of detailed information.
The book is undoubtedly well researched, although I did pick up two mistakes worth mentioning. In the animal section Dawson fails to mention the updated number of species now recognised (the book has the old classification of just three kiwi species), a mistake also found with the tuatara (the text mentions only one, when there are now two species recognised). Aside from that it’s an excellent guide.
‘Nature Guide’ was a finalist in 2001 Montana Book Awards (Environment Category) and all those with an interest in forests should have a copy.

Shaun Barnett

Great book that tells you every thing as well as very easy to apply.