Western Australia is rightly famous for its unique plants and animals, and many of those who have been drawn, inexorably, to study them have also been remarkable people. Among the most notable of these in the twentieth century is Rica Erickson, who was born on the eastern Goldfields in 1908 and has spent most of her life studying and writing about orchids, triggerplants, carnivorous plants, birds and insects. An accomplished botanical artist, she has also produced a wealth of detailed drawings and beautiful watercolour paintings to illustrate her work.
In Rica Erickson: A Naturalist's Life we have Rica's own account of how she became interested in natural history, who were her guides, her mentors, and how she did her research. Through these pages we meet many other great naturalists of the century. This book contains reproductions of some of Rica's writings from the 1940's, 1950's and 1960's.