Dryandra-leaved banksia

Appearance

''Banksia dryandroides'' is a much-branched, spreading shrub to 1 m high, and does not form a lignotuber. The stems are covered with fine reddish hair, and the fernlike leaves are 50–170 mm long and 7–15 mm wide. The squat cylindrical inflorescences appear from October to January and are 20–30 mm high. They are pale brownish in colour with hooked pistils. The flowers remain on the ageing spikes as up to 25 follicles develop. These measure 15–30 mm long, 5–12 mm high, and 3–9 mm wide, covered in fine hairs below, and smooth above.

Naming

Specimens of ''B. dryandroides'' were first collected in 1823 from the vicinity of King George Sound by William Baxter, a private plant collector who collected plant specimens and seed on behalf of British nurseries. Baxter sent to Clapton Nursery a package of ''Banksia'' seed labelled "Dryandroides", and this was successfully germinated. The species became part of "the collection of Mr Mackay, at Clapton", before being procured for "the superb collection of the Comtesse de Vandes', at Bayswater", where it flowered in cultivation for the first time. There it was seen by Robert Sweet, who in 1826 listed it under the unpublished manuscript name "Banksia dryandroides" as having been in cultivation in British gardens since 1824. Two years later, Sweet published a formal description of the species in his ''Flora Australasica'', accompanied by a hand-coloured engraving by Edwin Dalton Smith. Thus ''B. dryandroides'' became the first published of the 18 ''Banksia'' species discovered by Baxter; the remaining 17 would be published in Robert Brown's 1830 ''Supplementum primum Prodromi florae Novae Hollandiae'', based on Baxter's specimen sheets.

Sweet attributed the specific epithet ''dryandroides'' to Baxter, hence the species' full name with author citation is ''Banksia dryandroides'' Baxter ex Sweet. .) The etymology of ''dryandroides'' was not explicitly given, but Sweet offered the English common name ''Dryandra-like Banksia''. The specific epithet is now held to mean "''Dryandra''-like", from the genus ''Dryandra'' and the suffix ''-oides'' , in reference to the similarity of the leaves to some species of ''B.'' ser. ''Dryandra'' .

Sweet did not designate a type specimen for the species. Australian botanist Alex George has since designated as neotype one of Baxter's specimen sheets located at the British Museum , labelled "Banksia new Seeds marked Dryandroides".

The species has an uneventful taxonomic history and no subspecies or varieties have been identified. In 1891, Otto Kuntze, in his ''Revisio Generum Plantarum'', rejected the generic name ''Banksia'' L.f., on the grounds that the name ''Banksia'' had previously been published in 1776 as ''Banksia'' J.R.Forst & G.Forst, referring to the genus now known as ''Pimelea''. Kuntze proposed ''Sirmuellera'' as an alternative, referring to this species as ''Sirmuellera dryandroides''. This application of the principle of priority was largely ignored by Kuntze's contemporaries, and ''Banksia'' L.f. was formally conserved and ''Sirmuellera'' rejected in 1940.

Distribution

''Banksia dryandroides'' ranges near the south coast of Western Australia from Narrikup to Beaufort Inlet. It grows in clay-loam, sandy loam or gravel-based soils on low-lying areas, in shrubland and low woodland. It is also found on sandstone-based elevated areas in kwongan habitat.

Habitat

''Banksia dryandroides'' ranges near the south coast of Western Australia from Narrikup to Beaufort Inlet. It grows in clay-loam, sandy loam or gravel-based soils on low-lying areas, in shrubland and low woodland. It is also found on sandstone-based elevated areas in kwongan habitat.''Banksia dryandroides'' is killed by fire and regenerates from seed. New plants need at least four years between fires to flower and set fruit.

It is moderately sensitive to ''Phytophthora cinnamomi'' dieback.

An assessment of the potential impact of climate change on this species found that its range is likely to contract by between 30% and 80% by 2080, depending on the severity of the change.