Tasmania is an ancient land in a remote corner of the world. This coupled with an extremely complex geology and climate all make for an incredibly diverse and unique flora for an island the size of Ireland. In certain alpine areas of the West Coast the endemnicity (that is those species not found in any other location of the world) is as high as 70-80%. This is a truly amazing statistic, compared say to the British Isles which is believed can claim almost no endemic flora.