The open plant encyclopedia
Snap a photo or search by any name to see how to care for it, where it comes from, whether it's safe, and a 3D model you can turn.
The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.
Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.
Banksia aculeata
Banksia aculeata, commonly known as prickly banksia, is a species of plant of the family Proteaceae native to the Stirling Range in the southwest of Western Australia. A shrub up to 2 m (7 ft) tall, it has dense foliage and leaves with very prickly serrated margins. Its unusual pinkish, pendent (hanging) flower spikes, known as inflorescences, are generally hidden in the foliage and appear during the early summer. Although it was collected by the naturalist James Drummond in the 1840s, Banksia aculeata was not formally described until 1981, by Alex George in his monograph of the genus.
A rare plant, Banksia aculeata is found in gravelly soils in elevated areas. Native to a habitat burnt by periodic bushfires, it is killed by fire and regenerates from seed afterwards.
Banksia aculeata grows slowly, generally taking five to six years to flower from seed, though there is a report of it flowering in three years at Strathmerton in Victoria. Regarding its potential as an ornamental plant, Alex George observes that the flowers are brightly coloured but have a short life and are obscured by the foliage, which is quite prickly. He nonetheless considers both the new foliage and the infructescence attractive. This species can grow in a range of soil types so long as they provide good drainage. The nominal soil pH range is from 5.5 to 6.5. It prefers full sun, although it will grow in partly shaded situations, producing fewer flowers. It will tolerate light pruning.
B. aculeata is native to the foothills of the Stirling Range in the southwest of Western Australia, occurring at elevations between 250 and 500 m (825 and 1,650 ft), in shrubland in gravelly, clayish soils. The annual rainfall is around 600 mm (24 in). It is a fairly rare plant, with most populations consisting of fewer than 100 plants. With fairly small populations and a narrow distribution, B. aculeata is considered rare, but is not currently classed as endangered because at least some populations are thought not to be under immediate threat. The Department of Environment and Conservation of the Western Australian State Government classes it as "Priority Two – Poorly Known" flora.
Banksia acanthopoda · Banksia acuminata · Wallum Banksia · Banksia alliacea · Cactus Dryandra · Northern Banksia · Yilgarn Dryandra · Banksia archaeocarpa · Banksia arctotidis · Banksia armata var. armata · Banksia armata var. ignicida · Prickly Dryandra
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Banksia aculeata by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
