Banksia ilicifolia

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Holly-leaved Banksia

Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Proteales
Family:	Proteaceae
Genus:	Banksia
Subgenus:	Banksia subg. Isostylis
Species:	B. ilicifolia

Binomial name

Banksia ilicifolia
R.Br.

Banksia ilicifolia, commonly known as Holly-leaved Banksia, is a tree in the plant family Proteaceae. Endemic to south west Western Australia, it is a highly unusual species of Banksia in that its inflorescence is a dome-shaped head rather than the characteristic Banksia flower spike.

Holly-leaved Banksia usually grows as a tree to a height of about ten metres, but specimens occurring very near the coast may grow as a spreading shrub.. It has a stout trunk up to 50 centimetres in diameter, and thick, fibrous, grey bark. Its leaves are a dark shiny green colour, from three to ten centimetres long, and usually have highly serrated edges. The dome-shaped flower heads go through three colour phases, being initially yellow, then pink, then finally red. The fruit are follicles, which remain embedded in the woody base of the flower head.

A relatively common species, the Holly-leaved Banksia is widely distributed within south west Western Australia. It occurs on sandy soils within 70 kilometres of the coast, from Mount Lesueur to the Cordinup River east of Albany. It especially favours low-lying areas.

Because of its dome-shaped flower heads, Holly-leafed Banksia is placed in the subgenus Banksia subg. Isostylis. It is the only common member of that subgenus; the two other species are rare and threatened, and are protected under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.

Holly-leafed Banksia was first collected by Robert Brown in 1801 or 1802 at King George Sound, and published by him in 1810. The shrubby, coastal ecotype was incorrectly published as a separate species Banksia aquifolium by John Lindley in his 1840 A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony, but this has since been corrected to a taxonomic synonym of B. ilicifolia. No subspecies are recognised.

[edit] References

George, Alex S. (1981). "The genus Banksia L.f. (Proteaceae)". Nuytsia 3 (3): 239–473. ISSN 0085-4417.
George, A. S. (1999). "Banksia", in Wilson, Annette (ed.): Flora of Australia: Volume 17B: Proteaceae 3: Hakea to Dryandra. CSIRO Publishing / Australian Biological Resources Study, 175–251. ISBN 0-643-06454-0.
Powell, Robert (1990). Leaf and Branch: Trees and Tall Shrubs of Perth. Perth, Western Australia: Department of Conservation and Land Management. ISBN 0-7309-3916-2.
Taylor, Anne and Stephen Hopper (1988). The Banksia Atlas (Australian Flora and Fauna Series Number 8). Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service. ISBN 0-644-07124-9.