With 170 species and all but one endemic to Australia, they are
some of the most iconic Australian plants.
With their distinctive
flower pods and spikes they are easy to distinguish, and some of them
are large and spectacularly colourful. They got their name from the
English botanist Sir Joseph Banks, who collected the first specimens
and took them back to England after the first expedition of James Cook
in 1770.
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Flower and Pod
The most distinctive features of these beautiful plants are their
flowers and pods.
The flower spike actually consists of hundreds or even thousands small
flowers that produce a huge amount of nectar. Young spikes are
colourful yellow, red, pink, orange or violet, depending on species,
while the older spikes get dull in colour and in some species loose the
flower parts with aging. The fruit is a woody follicle that consists of
valves that enclose seeds. In some species the follicle splits as soon
as it’s mature, but in most species the follicles only open after
bushfires.
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Where to See Different Species
Other characteristics, such as leaves, and the size of the plant, vary
between different species. Some can be small scrubs while others can
grow up to 30 metres high. They commonly grow on coastal areas and not
too far inland, as they cannot do with less than 200mm of rainfall.
There are therefore distinct geographical regions where these plants
occur
in Australia. The most famous with about 90% of all species is Western
Australia.
This is also where you find the most colourful versions like reds
bright oranges. The other region, eastern Australia, has less species
and they tend to be mostly yellowish in colour. The third region,
northern Australia, contains only one species – the
only species not endemic to Australia as it is also found in the
tropical New Guinea.
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Eastern Australia
Silver Banksia (B Marginata)
is a small tree or shrub with grey bark, many spreading branches, and
pale yellow, relatively small flowers. Marginata is found on King
Island and Flinders Island, almost everywhere
in Tasmania
and Victoria, southern New South Wales and
eastern South
Australia. There is also one little pocket of
it in the south western WA. Heath Banksia (B ericifolia)
is a large shrub or small tree with narrow leaves and long orange-red
flower. It is found in pockets along the coasts of New
South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.
Coast Banksia (B integrifolia)
is a medium sized tree with pale yellow flowers and wedge-shaped
leaves, which is found along the whole eastern coast of Australia from Townsville
in north and Melbourne
in south. It is also found in a few pockets in western Victoria,
and on King Island and Flinders
Island north of Tasmania. Old Man Banksia (B
Serrata)
is a tall shrub or medium-sized tree with spongy bark, leaves with
toothed margins, and a relatively small creamy or silvery grey flower.
It is found along the eastern coast of Australia from Fraser
Island in north and Wilsons
Promontory National Park in south. It is
also found on Flinders Island, and in western Tasmania.
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Western Australia
Slender Banksia (B attenuata)
is a tall shrub or medium-sized tree with dark rough bark, leaves with
toothed margins, and large, bright yellow flowers. It is found in
south-western WA between Esperance in south and Shark
Bay in north. Firewood Banksia (B
menziesii)
is a shrub or medium sized tree with grey bark, toothed leaves and
relatively small, red or yellow flowers. It is found along the coast of
Western Australia between Shark Bay in north and Perth
in south. Red Swamp Banksia (B occidentalis)
is a large shrub or small tree with smooth, brownish grey bark, narrow
leaves and large red or yellow flowers. It is found in pockets on the
coast of south
western WA and Nullarbor coast. Acorn Banksia
(B prionotes) is a tall shrub or small tree with
grey-white bark, toothed leaves and orange flowers. Holly-leaved
Banksia (B ilicifolia)
is different from the others with a red or yellow globular flower in
cone shaped clusters. It is found along the coast between Shark Bay in
north and Esperance in south.
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Northern Australia
Tropical Banksia (B dentata) is the only species
that
grows in the tropical northern Australia, in the Kimberley
region in Western Australia, top end of Northern
Territory and Cape
York
peninsula in Queensland.
It has got dark grey rough bark, leaves with toothed margins and small
yellow tubular flowers. It grows in monsoonal areas near swamps and in
tropical woodlands.
Note:
This site uses
British English, which is the English we use in Australia. You will
find words like "traveller", "harbour" and "realise", and they are all
correct in the language used in Australia.
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