Plenty of colours to add variety

Photographer Rob Suisted rightly gets top billing (writer Matt Turner's name is not printed on the cover) for Wildflowers of New Zealand. An elegant collection of images, most of them in close-up, it illustrates a selection of our unique flora and - unlike some other books on the subject - has no introduced plants.

Many native plants have white flowers, so predictably these dominate the book. However, Suisted has found plenty of other colours to add variety, from the scarlet of kaka beak and native gloxinia to the purple of poroporo and golden tanui.

Only one photograph lacks appeal: the Chatham Island forget-me-not on page 8. The clean blue colour that is the principal attraction of the flowers is rendered pinkish; it is shown in too tight a close-up to appreciate the form of the flower head; and in the text Chatham Island is incorrectly given as Chatham Islands. The plant name is singular.

There are compensations. Among the loveliest images are those of a Raoulia and our sole native passionfruit. Retailing at under $20, Wildflowers of New Zealand would make an inexpensive gift or souvenir for tourists, probably the market the publishers have in mind.