Banksia meisneri
Meisner's Banksia
Meisner's Banksia
Wikipedia links: Angiosperms > Eudicots > Proteales > Proteaceae > Banksia meisneri
Other links:
Common name: Meisner's Banksia
Conservation status: Subspecies ascendens is classified as rare or near threatened
Banksia meisneri is classed as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife, but subspecies ascendens is classified as "Priority Four"[19] meaning that is rare or near threatened
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 (meisneri) honours the Swiss botanist, Carl Meissner
Flowers:
The flower spikes develop mostly on side branches and are 20–30 mm long and 45–50 mm wide with small, hairy bracts at the base of the flowers
The flowers are golden brown with yellow styles, curved at the tip and the perianth is 7–9 mm long and hairy on the outside
The infructescence is more or less spherical or slightly compressed vertically, 30–40 mm long and 40–50 mm wide, with the individual follicles 1–7 mm high and 3–4 mm wide
Flowering occurs from April to September
Fruit:
This banksia does not have a lignotuber and is killed by fire, when the follicles open and release the seeds
The follicles usually remain closed until after fire
Leaves:
The branches have crowded linear to narrow elliptic leaves that are 3–7 mm long and 1.0–1.5 mm wide
The edges of the leaves are rolled under
The upper surface is woolly at first, becoming glabrous as it matures
The lower surface is woolly but mostly hidden by the rolled edges
Stem & branches:
A single stem at the base but much branched above
The branches are covered with woolly hair and have crowded leaves
Roots:
Habit:
A shrub which grow to a height of up to 2 m
Habitat:
It grows in deep sand in shrubland and low woodland in low-lying flats
Distribution:
Endemic to a small area in the south-west of Western Australia
Meisner's banksia is found between Collie, Pingrup and Tenterden in the Avon Wheatbelt, Esperance Plains and Jarrah Forest biogeographic regions
Additional notes:
Taxonomy
Banksia meisneri was first formally described in 1845 by Johann Georg Christian Lehmann and the description was published in Plantae Preissianae
In 1891, Otto Kuntze, in his Revisio Generum Plantarum, rejected the generic name Banksia L.f., on the grounds that the name Banksia had previously been published in 1776 as Banksia J.R.Forst & G.Forst, referring to the genus now known as Pimelea
Kuntze proposed Sirmuellera as an alternative, referring to this species as Sirmuellera meisneri
This application of the principle of priority was largely ignored by Kuntze's contemporaries, and Banksia L.f. was formally conserved and Sirmuellera rejected in 1940
In 1981, Alex George described two varieties of B. meisneri in the journal Nuytsia:
Banksia meisneri var. ascendens that has leaves 8–15 mm long and more or less directed upwards
Banksia meisneri Lehm. var. meisneri that has leaves 3–7 mm long and spreading or directed downwards
In 1996, George raised the two varieties of B. meisneri to subspecies status and the names have been accepted at the Australian Plant Census:
Banksia meisneri subsp. ascendens
Banksia meisneri subsp. meisneri
Use in horticulture
This banksia has only rarely been grown in cultivation
It is fast growing and flowers from seed after about five years
A Mediterranean climate is preferred and the species is difficult to maintain in eastern Australia
It is grown from seed which germinates after between 28 and 39 days
Sources of information: