Banksia occidentalis

Location & distribution maps

Phylogeny & links to associated information:

Wikipedia links:       Angiosperms > Eudicots > Proteales > Proteaceae > Banksia  occidentalis

Other links:     

Plant  information

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:

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