Developing an Interactive Plant Identification Tool for the Royal National Park

Abstract

This paper describes the development of an educational resource to help the community identify and understand the native flora of the Royal National Park. The resource, titled ‘Coastal Plants of the Royal National Park’, is an electronic identification tool available on CD-Rom. The resource features an interactive identification tool with multi-entry keys, a look-up glossary and over 1,200 photographs to support identification of 300 plant species, representing about one-quarter of the Royal National Park’s total native flora. It was initiated and developed as a volunteer project by the Australian Plants Society, Sutherland Group to produce a user-friendly resource specially designed for non-botanists. It demonstrates community engagement in environmental education. Over 1,400 CDs have been distributed since the launch in 2006, indicating considerable success in achieving the project aims.