Aston, Helen I., Aquatic Plants of Australia. A guide to the identification of the aquatic ferns and flowering plants of Australia, both native and naturalized. Melbourne University Press, 6 Sept. 1973, 8°, xvi + 368 pp., 138 fig., 81 maps. Clothbound A$ 21. In accordance with the subtitle of this book there are, besides Phanerogams, also small chapters on some Cryptogam families, notably Characeae (algae), Ricciaceae (liverworts), Azollaceae, Isoetaceae, Marsileaceae, Parkeriaceae, Salviniaceae (aquatic ferns). There is a general chapter on the Australian environment. Australia is a dry continent, but many parts are surprisingly well watered with swamps, lagoons, irrigation channels and new reservoirs; depressions are often filled after rains at odd intervals, and many waterplants can survive by rhizomes or seed in intervening dry periods. A total of 220 species are treated. The concept waterplant is, as usual, of an arbitrary nature. The main text is the systematical description of the species, with their distribution. As the author was best acquainted with the Victorian waterplants, locality maps are given of all species occurring in that state. Species descriptions are ample and very many species are depicted, mainly by original drawings.