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Banksia speciosa
Also called Showy Banksia
Banksia speciosa, commonly known as the showy banksia, is a species of large shrub or small tree in the family Proteaceae. It is found on the south coast of Western Australia between Hopetoun (34° S 120° E) and Point Culver (33° S 124° E), growing on white or grey sand in shrubland. Reaching up to 8 m (26 ft) in height, it is a single-stemmed plant that has thin leaves with prominent triangular 'teeth' along each margin, which are 20–45 cm (7.9–17.7 in) long and 2–4 cm (0.8–1.6 in) wide. The prominent cream-yellow flower spikes known as inflorescences appear throughout the year. As they age they develop up to 20 follicles each that store seeds until opened by fire. Though widely occurring, the species is highly sensitive to dieback and large populations of plants have succumbed to the disease.
Collected and described by Robert Brown in the early 19th century, B.
A fast-growing and attractive plant, B. speciosa grows readily in a sunny location in dry climates on well-drained soil, but does poorly in areas of humid summer climate, such as Australia's east coast. It has been grafted successfully onto Banksia serrata and B. integrifolia to enable cultivation in these areas. Seeds do not require any treatment, and take 27 to 41 days to germinate. A specimen flowered in a greenhouse in the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh in 1830. B. speciosa is an important cut flower crop. It was one of several species considered for commercial cropping in Tenerife, and trials showed that seedlings were moderately tolerant to salinity.
B. speciosa occurs on coastal dunes and sandplains in the Esperance Plains and Mallee biogeographic regions on the south coast of Western Australia, from East Mount Barren in the Fitzgerald River National Park and the vicinity of Hopetoun eastwards to Israelite Bay, generally within 50 km (30 mi) of the coast. The range extends inland to Mount Ragged and 25 km (16 mi) southwest of Grass Patch. There is an outlying population to the east at Point Culver on the Great Australian Bight.
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 speciosa 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.
