Banksia occidentalis
Red Swamp Banksia
Red Swamp Banksia
Dwarf
Wikipedia links: Angiosperms > Eudicots > Proteales > Proteaceae > Banksia occidentalis
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Common name: Red Swamp Banksia
Conservation status: ...
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 (occidentalis) is a Latin word meaning "western", referring to the distribution of this species relative to the related B. spinulosa
Flowers:
The flowers are arranged in a cylindrical spike 40–140 mm long and 65–75 mm wide at flowering
The flowers are gold-coloured with red styles, the perianth 17–18 mm long and the pistil 29–35 mm long and hooked
Flowering occurs from April to May or from August to November or January and the follicles are elliptical, 1–18 mm long, 4–7 mm high and 3–7 mm wide
Fruit:
Up to sixty follicles form in each spike, the old flowers having fallen
Leaves:
The leaves are linear, sparsely serrated, whorled, 40–130 mm long, 2–3 mm wide
Petiole of 1–5 mm long
Stem & branches:
Roots:
Habit:
A shrub or small tree that typically grows to a height of 1–7 m and has smooth bark but does not form a lignotuber
Habitat:
It grows in shrubland or woodland, usually on the edges of swamps but sometimes also on coastal dunes
Distribution:
Endemic to the south coast of Western Australia
Along the south coast of Western Australia between Augusta and Cape Arid National Park
Additional notes:
Taxonomy
It was first formally described in 1810 by Robert Brown in Transactions of the Linnean Society of London
George placed this species in section Oncostylis, series Spicigerae
Ecology
A 1980 field study at Cheyne beach showed it to be pollinated by the New Holland honeyeater and white-cheeked honeyeater
Conservation status
This banksia is listed as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife
Use in horticulture
Seeds do not require any treatment, and take 21 to 47 days to germinate.
The species was observed to be in cultivation in England in the gardens of Chiswick House in 1834
Sources of information: