Banksia ashbyi

Location & distribution maps

Plant  information

Common name:                Ashby's Banksia

Conservation status:  Least concern

• This banksia is classified as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife

Etymology:   

• The genus is named after Sir Joseph Banks (1743-1820 ), who, in 1770, was the first European to collect specimens of these plants  

• The specific epithet honours Edwin Ashby, one of the collectors of the type specimens

Flowers:                  

• The flower spikes are bright orange, 60–150 mm (2.4–5.9 in) long and 60–80 mm (2.4–3.1 in) in diameter, each perianth 26–34 mm long

• Flowering occurs from February to May or July to December 

Fruit:                         

• The fruits are numerous smooth

• Elliptical to round follicles 8–15 mm long, 3–8 mm high and 5–11 mm wide 

• They have a covering of short, soft hairs

Leaves:         

• The leaves are broadly linear, 100–300 mm long and 20–40 mm wide 

• Deeply serrated, the serrations triangular with sharply pointed tips

Stem & branches: 

• It has smooth, grey bark and young stems that are hairy at first but become glabrous as they age

Roots:         

Habit:        

• A shrub or small tree that typically grows to a height of 8 m and sometimes forms a lignotuber

  • Banksia ashbyi subsp. ashbyi grows as a tree up to 7 m in height, lacks a lignotuber and is fire-sensitive

  • Banksia ashbyi subsp. boreoscaia grows as a sprawling shrub no more than 2 m high and is lignotuberous

Habitat:   

• Heath and spinifex country 

Distribution:                  

• Endemic to Western Australia

• Along the coast of Western Australia between Geraldton and Exmouth

  • Subspecies ashbyi occurs between Shark Bay and Coorow as well as in the Kennedy Range

  • Subspecies boreoscaia is found further north, between North West Cape and Quobba

Additional notes:     

• Taxonomy and naming

  • Banksia ashbyi was first formally described in 1934 by Edmund Gilbert Baker in the Journal of Botany, British and Foreign

  • In 2008, Alex George described two subspecies in the journal Nuytsia and the names have been accepted by the Australian Plant Census:

    • Banksia ashbyi subsp. ashbyi 

    • Banksia ashbyi subsp. boreoscaia 

• Ecology

  • An assessment of the potential impact of climate change on this species found that its range is unlikely to contract and may actually grow, depending on how effectively it migrates into newly habitable areas

• Use in horticulture

  • Seeds do not require any treatment, and take 16 to 61 days to germinate

Sources of information:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banksia_ashbyi (2023)