Appearance
''Banksia robur'' is a spreading shrub to 2.5 m, although can get a little larger in cultivation. It has very large, leathery tough green leaves with serrated margins up to 30 cm long and 10 cm wide. The new growth is colourful, with shades red, maroon or brown with a dense felt-like covering of brown hairs.Plants from different areas seem to flower at different times, some spring-summer, others predominantly autumn. The stunning large flower spikes, up to 15 centimetres high and 5 to 6 centimetres wide, are metallic green with pinkish styles in bud, becoming cream-yellow and fading to golden-brown in the golden stage. The old flowers turn grey and persist on old cones, concealing the small follicles. These follicles are reddish and furred when new, before fading. The plant is lignotuberous, regenerating from the ground after fire.
Hybrids with its close relative, ''B. oblongifolia'' can be sometimes found where both species occur , with features intermediate between both species.
Habitat
Like other banksias, ''B. robur'' plays host to a wide variety of pollinators, including insects such as butterflies, moths, bees, wasps, ants and jewel beetles, and many bird species. These include honeyeaters such as New Holland honeyeater , little wattlebird , brown honeyeater , tawny-crowned honeyeater , Lewin's honeyeater , and little friarbird - all recorded in the 1988 ''The Banksia Atlas'' survey.References:
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