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Banksia biterax

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Banksia biterax
On Mount Clarence, in Albany
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Proteales
Family: Proteaceae
Genus: Banksia
Subgenus: Banksia subg. Banksia
Series: Banksia ser. Dryandra
Species:
B. biterax
Binomial name
Banksia biterax
Synonyms[1]
Habit in Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve
Flower buds

Banksia biterax is a species of dense shrub that is endemic to Western Australia. It has hairy stems, deeply serrated leaves and spikes of up to 200 pale to dark brown flowers.

Description

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Banksia biterax is a dense, rounded, bushy shrub that typically grows to a height of 1–2.5 m (3 ft 3 in – 8 ft 2 in) and has hairy stems but does not form a lignotuber. Its leaves are linear in outline, 150–350 mm (5.9–13.8 in) long and 4–6 mm (0.16–0.24 in) on a petiole up to 1.5 mm (0.059 in) long. The leaves are serrated to the midvein, with 60 to 110 triangular lobes and are woolly-hairy on the lower surface. The flower spikes are borne on short side branches and have between 150 and 200 pale to dark brown flowers each with a perianth 25–27 mm (0.98–1.06 in) long and a cream-coloured pistil 28–30 mm (1.1–1.2 in) long. Flowering occurs from May or July to October and the fruit is an egg-shaped follicle about 15 mm (0.59 in) long.[2][3]

Taxonomy and naming

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This species was first described in 1830 by Robert Brown in the supplement to his Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen and was given the name Dryandra baxteri.[4][5] In 2007 Austin Mast and Kevin Thiele transferred all the dryandras to the genus Banksia but as there was already a plant named Banksia baxteri, Mast and Thiele chose the specific epithet "biterax", an anagram of baxteri.[6][7][8]

Distribution and habitat

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Banksia biterax grows in kwongan and eucalyptus woodland near Busselton and between the Stirling Range and Albany.[3][2]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Banksia biterax". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  2. ^ a b "Banksia biterax". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
  3. ^ a b George, Alex S. (1999). Flora of Australia (PDF). Vol. 17B. Canberra: Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra. p. 299. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  4. ^ "Dryandra baxteri". APNI. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  5. ^ Brown, Robert (1830). Supplementum primum Prodromi florae Novae Hollandiae. London: Typis R. Taylor. pp. 38_39. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  6. ^ "Banksia biterax". APNI. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  7. ^ Mast, Austin R.; Thiele, Kevin (2007). "The transfer of Dryandra R.Br. to Banksia L.f. (Proteaceae)". Australian Systematic Botany. 20 (1): 63–71. doi:10.1071/SB06016.
  8. ^ Francis Aubie Sharr (2019). Western Australian Plant Names and their Meanings. Kardinya, Western Australia: Four Gables Press. p. 147. ISBN 9780958034180.