Banksia wonganensis

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Banksia wonganensis
Banksia wonganensis(1).jpg
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Proteales
Family: Proteaceae
Genus: Banksia
Subgenus: Banksia subg. Banksia
Series: Banksia ser. Dryandra
Species:
B. wonganensis
Binomial name
Banksia wonganensis
Synonyms

Dryandra wonganensis A.S.George

Banksia wonganensis is a large shrub endemic to Western Australia that, until 2007, was previously known as Dryandra wonganensis. It occurs within a small area in the vicinity of the Wongan Hills. It grows on lateritic soils in open woodland or amongst dense shrub. It is rare, but does not appear to be endangered.

Contents

Description

It is a sprawling or erect shrub, up to 3 metres (10 ft) high, without a lignotuber. Leaves are 4 to 16 centimetres (1.6 to 6.3 in) long, and nine to 18 millimetres wide, and pinnatifid, with four to nine triangular lobes on each side, before tapering to a fine point. They are often strongly curved. Flowers are bright yellow, and occur in heads of 45 to 50 flowers, up to 3.5 centimetres (1.4 in) across. Each flower consists of a tubular perianth made up of four fused tepals, and one long wiry style; the head of the style is initially trapped inside the upper perianth parts, but breaks free at anthesis. After flowering, follicles develop in the woody base of the flower head, each containing one or sometimes two seeds. [1] [2]

Taxonomy

Early collections of B. wonganensis include specimens collected by Alexander Morrison at Wongan Hills in October 1903, by Norm Moyle in Monk Well Gully, Wongan Hills, [1] by Fred Lullfitz northwest of Wongan Hills, and by Kenneth Newbey in the Wongan Hills. [3] In 1985 these specimens were wrongly attributed to Dryandra hewardiana (now Banksia hewardiana ) by Robert Malcolm Sainsbury in his Field Guide to Dryandras, but it was later recognised as a distinct species, and referred to in FloraBase as Dryandra sp. 25. [4] The type specimen was collected by Alex George on 4 August 1986, from a location on Piawaning Road north-west of Wongan Hills. George published a formal description of the species in 1996 in Nuytsia 10(3). He placed it in the genus Dryandra , subgenus Dryandra, series Armatae, and gave it the specific epithet "wonganensis" from "wongan", after the Wongan Hills where it is found, and the Latin "ensis" (origin or place). [3] Thus its full name was Dryandra wonganensis A.S.George. [1] [2]

Early in 2007, Austin Mast and Kevin Thiele transferred all Dryandra taxa to Banksia. The current name for this species is therefore Banksia wonganensis (A.S.George) A.R.Mast & K.R.Thiele. As an interim measure, Mast and Thiele placed all but one Dryandra taxon in Banksia ser. Dryandra. [5]

Distribution and habitat

Distribution of B. wonganensis, shown on a map of Western Australia's biogeographic regions. Banksia wonganensis map.png
Distribution of B. wonganensis, shown on a map of Western Australia's biogeographic regions.

Banksia wonganensis occurs only in the Wongan Hills and on surrounding rises, [1] [2] in the Avon Wheatbelt biogeographic region. [6] The location has lateritic soils covered by open woodland or dense scrub. Mean annual rainfall is 350 to 400 millimetres (14 to 16 in), with a mean temperature range of 11.1 to 24.3 °C (52.0 to 75.7 °F), and up to 80 days above 30 °C (86 °F). [2]

Ecology

Like most other Proteaceae, B. wonganensis has proteoid roots, roots with dense clusters of short lateral rootlets that form a mat in the soil just below the leaf litter. These enhance solubilisation of nutrients, thus allowing nutrient uptake in low-nutrient soils such as the phosphorus-deficient native soils of Australia. It lacks a lignotuber, so is killed by bushfire. However it is adapted to release its seed following a fire, so populations regenerate rapidly. [2]

It has been given a rating of "Priority Four - Poorly Known Taxa" on Western Australia's Department of Environment and Conservation's Declared Rare and Priority Flora List, meaning that it has been adequately surveyed, has been determined to be rare, but is apparently not threatened. [6]

Cultivation

The species is little known in cultivation. Tony Cavanagh and Margaret Pieroni rate its foliage as attractive and its flowers as showy, and state that it is just as attractive as many other large shrubs in its series. The species prefer heavy soils with good drainage, and tolerates full sun or light shade. It has good tolerance for both drought and frost. Germination of seed appears to have a success rate of only about 50%; germination is rapid, often taking less than four weeks. [2]

Related Research Articles

<i>Banksia acanthopoda</i> Species of shrub in Western Australia

Banksia acanthopoda is a species of shrub in the family Proteaceae. It grows as a small spreading shrub to 2 m high and has prickly leaves and yellow composite flower heads, called inflorescences, composed of 50 to 60 individual yellow flowers. Flowering takes place in the southern hemisphere winter. Endemic to Western Australia, it occurs only in a few populations in the vicinities of Woodanilling, Katanning and Darkan. Because of its rarity, it is classed as "Priority Two" conservation flora by Western Australia's Department of Environment and Conservation.

<i>Banksia armata</i> Species of shrub in the family Proteaceae endemic to Western Australia

Banksia armata, commonly known as prickly dryandra, is a species of often sprawling shrub that is endemic to Western Australia. It has deeply serrated leaves with sharply pointed lobes and spikes of about 45 to 70 yellow flowers.

<i>Banksia bipinnatifida</i> Species of shrub in the family Proteaceae endemic to Western Australia

Banksia bipinnatifida is a species of shrub that is endemic to Western Australia. It is a prostrate shrub with a lignotuber, an underground stem, only a few divided leaves, large cream-coloured to pale yellow flowers and large fruit.

<i>Banksia comosa</i> Species of shrub in the family Proteaceae endemic to Western Australia

Banksia comosa, commonly known as Wongan dryandra, is a species of shrub that is endemic to Western Australia. It has linear leaves with widely spaced, sharply pointed serrations, heads of yellow flowers and glabrous fruit.

<i>Banksia hewardiana</i> Species of shrub in the family Proteaceae endemic to Western Australia

Banksia hewardiana is a species of openly branched shrub that is endemic to Western Australia. It has linear, serrated leaves with sharply pointed teeth, head of up to sixty lemon-yellow flowers and oblong follicles.

Banksia ionthocarpa is a species of shrub that is endemic to Western Australia. It has short, hairy, prostrate stems, pinnatifid leaves, pinkish purple to orange flower in heads of between forty and sixty at the base of leaves, and egg-shaped follicles with a distinctive tuft of hairs on the end.

<i>Banksia kippistiana</i> Shrub endemic to Western Australia

Banksia kippistiana is a species of shrub that is endemic to Western Australia. It has linear, pinnatifid leaves with ten to twenty lobes on each side, heads of up to eighty yellow and cream-coloured flowers, and elliptical follicles.

Banksia plumosa is a species of shrub that is endemic to Western Australia. It has hairy stems, broadly linear pinnatifid to pinnatipartite leaves with triangular lobes, creamy-yellow flowers in heads of up to eighty, and egg-shaped follicles.

Banksia acuminata is a rare prostrate shrub endemic to south-west Western Australia. It was published in 1848 as Dryandra preissii, but transferred into Banksia as B. acuminata in 2007.

Banksia prionophylla is a shrub endemic to Western Australia. Known only from a single population of around 70 plants in a remote part of Western Australia, it is considered rare but not endangered. It was first discovered in 2001, and published under the genus Dryandra in 2005, before being transferred into Banksia in 2007.

<i>Banksia proteoides</i> Species of shrub in the family Proteaceae endemic to Western Australia

Banksia proteoides, commonly known as king dryandra, is a shrub endemic to Western Australia. It was known as Dryandra proteoides until 2007, when all Dryandra species were transferred to Banksia by Austin Mast and Kevin Thiele.

<i>Banksia pteridifolia</i> Species of shrub in the family Proteaceae native to Western Australia

Banksia pteridifolia, commonly known as tangled honeypot, is a species of shrub that is endemic to the southwest of Western Australia. It has short, underground stems, deeply pinnatipartite leaves with sharply-pointed, linear lobes on the sides, creamy white or yellow flowers in heads of about one hundred and later up to five follicles in each head.

<i>Banksia bella</i> Species of shrub endemic to Western Australia

Banksia bella, commonly known as the Wongan dryandra, is a species of dense shrub that is endemic to a restricted area of Western Australia. It has narrow, deeply serrated leaves covered with white hairs on the lower surface, heads of yellow flowers and few follicles in the fruiting head.

<i>Banksia serratuloides</i> Species of shrub in the family Proteaceae endemic to Western Australia

Banksia serratuloides is a species of small shrub that is endemic to Western Australia. It has linear, pinnatipartite leaves, yellow and pink flowers in heads of about forty and hairy, wrinkled follicles.

<i>Banksia strictifolia</i> Species of shrub in the family Proteaceae endemic to Western Australia

Banksia strictifolia is a species of bushy shrub that is endemic to Western Australia. It has serrated, linear leaves with sharply-pointed teeth on both sides, creamy yellow flowers in heads of between forty-five and eighty-five, and egg-shaped to more or less spherical follicles.

<i>Banksia stuposa</i> Species of shrub in the family Proteaceae endemic to Western Australia

Banksia stuposa is a species of shrub that is endemic to the southwest of Western Australia. It has hairy stems, broadly linear pinnatifid leaves, golden yellow and white flowers in heads of one hundred or more, and hairy, egg-shaped follicles.

<i>Banksia vestita</i> Species of shrub in the family Proteaceae endemic to Western Australia

Banksia vestita, commonly known as summer dryandra, is a species of shrub that is endemic to the southwest of Western Australia. It has broadly linear, pinnatifid leaves with sharply pointed teeth on both sides, yellow flowers in heads of between thirty and forty, and broadly egg-shaped follicles.

Banksia viscida, commonly known as sticky dryandra, is a small shrub known only from four laterite hills in semi-arid inland Western Australia. Known until recently as Dryandra viscida, it is thought to be rare but not threatened.

Banksia xylothemelia is a sprawling woody shrub of the family Proteaceae endemic to southern Western Australia, one of the many species commonly known as dryandras and until recently called Dryandra xylothemelia. To date it is almost unknown in cultivation.

Banksia trifontinalis is a species of openly-branched shrub that is endemic to the southwest of Western Australia. It has broadly linear, coarsely serrated, sharply pointed leaves, pale yellow flowers in heads of about sixty, and oblong to egg-shaped follicles.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 George, Alex S. (1999). "Dryandra". In Wilson, Annette (ed.). Flora of Australia . Vol. 17B: Proteaceae 3: Hakea to Dryandra. CSIRO Publishing / Australian Biological Resources Study. pp. 251–363. ISBN   0-643-06454-0.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Cavanagh, Tony; Pieroni, Margaret (2006). The Dryandras. Melbourne: Australian Plants Society (SGAP Victoria); Perth: Wildflower Society of Western Australia. ISBN   1-876473-54-1.
  3. 1 2 George, Alex S. (1996). "New taxa and a new infragenetic classification in Dryandra R.Br. (Proteaceae: Grevilleoideae)". Nuytsia . 10 (3): 313–408.
  4. "Dryandra wonganensis A.S.George". Australian Plant Name Index (APNI), IBIS database. Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Government.
  5. Mast, Austin R.; Thiele, Kevin (2007). "The transfer of Dryandra R.Br. to Banksia L.f. (Proteaceae)". Australian Systematic Botany . 20: 63–71. doi:10.1071/SB06016.
  6. 1 2 3 "Dryandra wonganensis A.S.George". FloraBase . Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.