Australian federal and state government agencies and some universities maintain facilities for the scientific collection, storage, and study of Australian plants. Updated knowledge about those plants comes mainly from such institutions and reaches the public through published handbooks, called floras, listing and illustrating the species. The number of general popular books dealing with the ornamental, horticultural, medicinal, culinary, and other uses of plants increased sharply following the publication of a major new flora, the multivolume series Flora of Australia (1981– ). Australia’s phanerogamian (seed plant) flora of approximately 20,000 species is thought to have arisen in ancient times from two ...(100 of 51163 words)