Banksia menziesii, commonly known as firewood banksia, is a species of flowering plant in the genus Banksia. It is found in Western Australia, from the Perth region north to the Murchison River. The plant is dependent on fire to reproduce as the follicles only open after being burnt after being separated from a woody woody seed.
About Banksia menziesii in brief
Banksia menziesii, commonly known as firewood banksia, is a species of flowering plant in the genus Banksia. It is found in Western Australia, from the Perth region north to the Murchison River. The prominent autumn and winter inflorescences are often two-coloured red or pink and yellow, and their colour has given rise to more unusual common names such as port wine banksia and strawberry banksia. A relatively hardy plant, it is commonly seen in gardens, nature strips and parks in Australian urban areas with Mediterranean climates. Its sensitivity to dieback from the soil-borne water mould Phytophthora cinnamomi makes it short-lived in places with humid summers, such as Sydney. The plant is dependent on fire to reproduce as the follicles only open after being burnt after being separated from a woody woody seed. The seeds were thought to have been discarded by many collectors who discarded them for many years, but they were actually used in the cut flower industry both in Australia and overseas. B. menziesII has more flower colour variants than any other Banksia species, with flower spikes occurring in a wide range of pinks, as well as chocolate, bronze, yellow and white, and greenish variants. It grows either as a gnarled tree to 10 m, or a lower spreading 1–3 metres shrub, generally encountered at its northern limits in the vicinity of Eneabba-Mount Adams; thus, it declines steadily in size as the climate becomes warmer and drier further north.
The serrated leaves are dull green with new growth a paler grey green. The trunk is greyish, sometimes with shades of brown or pink, and the 2–3 cm thick rough bark breaks away easily. The new leaves are paler and finely downy. The leaf margins are serrated with many small 1–2 mm long triangular teeth. The lower surface of the leaf has a midrib covered in fine pale brown hair, which wears away after two or three years, leaving smooth stems and leaves. Flowering occurs in autumn andWinter, peaking from May to July. The flower spikes can be up to 7–8 cm wide and 4–12 cm high, and are composed of numerous individual flowers; one field study south of Perth recorded an average of 1043 per flower spike. Old flowers usually fall off the spikes quickly, with up to 25 large beaked dark brown grey follicles developing. A mottled dark grey in colour can be prominent and quite attractively patterned when newly developed. Overall, only a small fraction of flowers develop into follicles; the proportion is as low as one in a thousand as one thousand follicles in a low-lying area of the country. The flowers are particularly striking closeup but can look indistinct from a distance. They are most attractive in late bud, the styles contrasting well to the body of the inflorescence, the whole looking like a red- or pink-and white vertical candy striped bloom.
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This page is based on the article Banksia menziesii published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 06, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
