After working in a variety of technical jobs, including with the Forests Commission of Victoria and the Botany Department of the University of Melbourne, Ian Clarke is currently employed in the plant identification service of the National Herbarium of Victoria. Between 1975 and 1990 he was associated with the Council of Adult Education in Melbourne as a tutor in flowering plant identification. Helen Lee, Honorary Research Fellow in the Botany Department, La Trobe University, holds a Master of Science degree from the University of Melbourne. After lecturing in botany for two years at Queen's University, Belfast, she was for many years a part-time tutor in the botany departments of Melbourne and La Trobe Universities, and a tutor with the Melbourne Council of Adult Education. Helen's research interests include the morphological characteristics of plants that resprout after fire, and arid zone ecology. She is a member of the Royal Society of Victoria and the Australian Systematic Botany Society. Their collaboration on this book brings together over thirty years of involvement in tertiary and adult education. Although they worked together throughout, Helen Lee is largely responsible for the text and Ian Clarke for the figures.