Volume 43: Sloover, R. Jacques de and A.L. Jacquemart: Nymph Island (Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, Australia). Flora and vegetation of a low wooded island. 2008. figs. col. photogr. 88 p. gr8vo. Paper bd.

Nymph island is an inner-shelf coral island of the northern sectionof the Great Barrier Reef off Cooktown. Its flora ranks among therichest of the coral islands in spite of its limited area. This bookgives a checklist of the 143 vascular plants belonging to 63 families,as well as a detailed description and analysis of its vegetation. Amongthe recognized units are salty grassland communities, six mangal communities, scrubby vine herb fields, a pioneering upper beachherbfield, Casuarina woodland and Manikara broadleaf forest. Sandy soilsare comparatively young. They were mainly studied under forest communities assuming that on progressively older terraces maturationleads to hemi-organic layers. Mapping the vegetation units shows theextent to which earlier maps were inaccurate, unquestionably so withregard to plant communities and geomorphological features. A newhypothesis about island structure and progressive setting up is thussuggested.