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Banksia paludosa, commonly known as the marsh or swamp banksia, is a species of shrub in the plant genus Banksia. It is native to New South Wales, Australia, where it is found between Sydney and Batemans Bay, with an isolated population further south around Eden. There are two recognised subspecies, the nominate of which is a spreading shrub to 1.5 m (4.9 ft) in height, and subsp. astrolux is a taller shrub to 5 m (16 ft) high found only in Nattai National Park.
Native mammals, such as the brown antechinus and sugar glider, are important pollinators of B. paludosa. Several species of honeyeaters visit the flower spikes, as do ants and the European honey bee.
Banksia paludosa was first introduced into cultivation in England in 1805. The species was grown at Kew, Cambridge Botanic Gardens, Woburn Abbey, Loddiges nursery in Hackney, John Miller's nursery in Bristol and George Hibbert's garden at Clapham Common. It was also grown in the Villa San Donato in Italy, in the collection of Anatoly Nikolaievich Demidov, 1st Prince of San Donato.
B. paludosa is cultivated in Australian gardens, and does best with a sunny aspect and good drainage, in soils with a pH from 5.5 to 7.5. Slow growing, it flowers in 6 to 10 years from seed. It can be propagated by seed, which take around two weeks to germinate, or cutting. Low growing coastal (dwarf) forms which grow to 60 cm (2.0 ft) are also commercially available, and should be propagated by cutting to preserve features. Noting the flower spikes to be "rather dull", plant author John Wrigley has described the species as "not a spectacular garden plant", although its foliage has been described as "attractive".
Both subspecies of Banksia paludosa are endemic to New South Wales. The nominate subspecies paludosa is found from Glen Davis through to the Sydney region and then south to Ulladulla on the South Coast, with a separate population in the vicinity of Eden just north of the Victorian border. It occurs inland as far as Taralga on the Southern Tablelands. It was collected in 1966 from Hat Head on the Mid North Coast by Lawrie Johnson, but has not been found there since despite field work in the area. This record aside, the northernmost historical coastal record is from what is now Centennial Park and La Perouse in Sydney's eastern suburbs, where it is now locally vanished. Subspecies astrolux is restricted to Nattai National Park in the Southern Highlands.
Banksia acanthopoda · Prickly Banksia · Banksia acuminata · Wallum Banksia · Banksia alliacea · Cactus Dryandra · Northern Banksia · Yilgarn Dryandra · Banksia archaeocarpa · Banksia arctotidis · Banksia armata var. armata · Banksia armata var. ignicida
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Banksia paludosa 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.
