Plants, Past, Present and Future is a publication by Lesley Head, Michael Fletcher, and Zena Cumpston and is part of the First Knowledges series that links Indigenous and non-Indigenous writers and editors. The book calls for new ways of understanding and engaging with Country, revealing the power and possibility of First Nations ecological expertise.

For millennia, reciprocal relationships with plants have provided both sustenance to First Nations communities and many of the materials needed to produce a complex array of technologies. Managed through fire, selective harvesting and replanting, the longevity and intricacy of these practices are testament to the ingenuity and depth of First Nations expertise. Plants: Past, Present and Future celebrates this history, showing how engaging with this heritage could be the key to a healthier, more sustainable future.

The book focuses on our relationships with plants in the context of contemporary Australian spatial, social and cultural landscapes. It presents ways of thinking about plants which celebrate the role they must play when looking towards green transitions, and the dynamic relationships we must share with our planetary biota. The writers chart a course for nationwide transformations in both practice and policy, highlighting the ways in which First Nations led environmental management projects can deliver paradigm shifting results, capable of reshaping Australia’s socio-environmental landscape.

This text was the result of online research and a reading of the publication, borrowing from the publisher's official description of the review by Jock Gilbert for Landscape Architect Australia.