The title page to Volume V of Flora Australensis

Flora Australiensis: a description of the plants of the Australian Territory, more commonly referred to as Flora Australiensis, and also known by its standard abbreviation Fl. Austral. ,^[1] is a seven-volume flora of Australia published between 1863 and 1878 by George Bentham, with the assistance of Ferdinand von Mueller. In Botany, flora ( Plural: floras or florae has two meanings The first meaning flora of an area or of time period, refers to all For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. George Bentham CMG FRS ( September 22, 1800 &ndash September 10, 1884) was an English Botanist, characterized by Duane Isely Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, KCMG (German Müller) (June 30 1825 &ndash October 10 1896 was a German-Australian Physician It was one of the famous Kew series of colonial floras, and the first flora of any large continental area that had ever been finished. The Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, usually referred to simply as Kew Gardens, are extensive Gardens and botanical glasshouses between Richmond and In total the flora included descriptions of 8125 species. ^[2]

Bentham prepared the flora from Kew; with Mueller, the first plant taxonomist residing permanently in Australia, loaning the entire collection of the National Herbarium of Victoria to Bentham over the course of several years. The National Herbarium of Victoria is one of Australia ’s premier state herbaria. Mueller had been dissuaded from preparing a flora from Australia while in Australia by Bentham and Joseph Dalton Hooker since historic collections of Australian species were all held in European herbaria which Mueller could not access from Australia. Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, OM, GCSI, MD, FRS (30 June 1817 – 10 December 1911 was an English Botanist and Explorer ^[2] Mueller did eventually produce his own flora of Australia, the Systematic Census of Australian Plants published in 1882 extended the work of Bentham with the addition of new species and taxonomic revisions. The Systematic census of Australian plants with chronologic literary and geographic annotations, more commonly known as the Systematic Census of Australian Plants

Flora Australiensis was the standard reference work on the Australian flora for more than a century. As late as 1988, James Willis wrote that "Flora Australiensis still remains the only definitive work on the vascular vegetation of the whole continent. James Willis (born September 2, 1972 in Huntsville Alabama) is a former American football Linebacker in the National Football "^[3] According to Nancy Burbidge, "it represents a prodigious intellectual effort never equalled. Nancy Tyson Burbidge AO ( August 5 1912 &ndash March 4 1977) was an Australian systemic Botanist, conservationist "^[4]

Flora Australiensis is credited with forming the basis of subsequently published regional floras; 19th century floras were published for all states except Western Australia, they were for the most part extracts of this work. ^[2]

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