Banksia vincentia

Location & distribution maps

Plant  information

Common name:                none

Conservation status:  ...

• Banksia vincentia is known from a single population of plants—14 at time of discovery and now down to 12 individual shrubs

• Some of the threats faced by the plant include: 

  • impact of road maintenance on highly restricted population

  • degradation of habitats from increasing urbanization

  • poor knowledge of the species' distribution and potential abundance

  • habitat invasion by weeds and invasive grasses

  • the presence of Phytophthora cinnamomi which is suspected to have killed several individuals

• Conservation has involved storing and germinating seed as well as cultivating new plants from cuttings at the Australian Botanic Gardens in Canberra, and Wollongong Botanic Gardens

• Material has been sent to the Kew Royal Botanic Gardens in England as well

Etymology:   

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

Flowers:                  

Fruit:                         

Leaves:         

• Leaves are either entire or have 1-6 marginal teeth or undulations in distil parts and grow to 12-47 mm long and 2-6.5 mm wide

• They are narrowly oblong-obovate with leaf tips being rounded to truncate. Leaf margins are slightly recurved and densely covered in short hairs

• The petiole of the leaves are 1-3.5 mm long and moderately to densely covered in hair

Stem & branches: 

• Branches grow horizontally from a lignotuber for 20–30 cm before veering upwards

Roots:         

Habit:        

• Semi-prostrate squat, spreading shrub 30–75 cm high by 1–2 m wide

Habitat:   

Distribution:                  

• Grows in a small location in southern NSW

Additional notes:     

• Taxonomy

  • It belongs to the Banksia spinulosa species complex and has affinities to Banksia neoanglica, found several hundred kilometres to the north

  • It was described by Marge Stimpson and Peter Weston in 2014, having been initially discovered in 2008

  • Local nursery owner Jacki Koppman came across the plant and suspected it was a distinct species, sending material to the New South Wales Herbarium for assessment and identification

Sources of information:

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