Andrew Mitchell – 3rd Edition- Arid Shrubland Plants of Western Australia – Murdoch Talk Aug 2026

Murdoch Branch Aug 2026 Guest Speaker.

Andrew Mitchell – 3rd Edition- Arid Shrubland Plants of Western Australia

Andrew Moved to Western Australia as a raw graduate of Agricultural Botany in 1972 from the UK and worked for the Dept of Agriculture, first in Kununurra on the agronomy of peanuts.

In 1974 he joined the WA rangeland survey team, mapping land systems where he learnt the importance of geology, soil and species habitat and commenced his obsession with Australian plants.

He moved to the country in 1980 (Meekatharra) as a rangeland advisor and then Karratha and Broome. 1st and 2^nd Editions of Arid Shrublands Plants were published in 1988 and 1994.

Andrew surveyed for tropical weeds for Quarantine across northern Australia, living in Broome and Darwin and returned to WA in 2009 where he continues to work on arid and tropical plants and a new edition of Arid Shrubland Plants.

Some main points of Andrews talk:

• Botany and climate of WA’s huge arid zone from the Nullarbor to the Pilbara
• How and why “Arid Shrubland Plants” was initially published
• Ecology of rangeland plants
• Whats changed in the 3^rd edition
• Photographing plants for identification; not just pretty