The hairpin banksia is a species of woody shrub, of the genus Banksia in the family Proteaceae, native to eastern Australia. It is found as an understorey plant in open dry forest or heathland from Victoria to northern Queensland, generally on sandstone though sometimes also clay soils. It generally grows as a small shrub to 2 metres in height, though can be a straggly tree to 6 metres.
About Banksia spinulosa in brief
The hairpin banksia is a species of woody shrub, of the genus Banksia in the family Proteaceae, native to eastern Australia. It is found as an understorey plant in open dry forest or heathland from Victoria to northern Queensland, generally on sandstone though sometimes also clay soils. It generally grows as a small shrub to 2 metres in height, though can be a straggly tree to 6 metres. It has long narrow leaves with inflorescences which can vary considerably in coloration. While the spikes are gold or less commonly yellowish, the emergent styles may be a wide range of colours – from black, purple, red, orange or yellow. The hairpin Banksia is pollinated by and provides food for a wide array of vertebrate and invertebrate animals in the autumn and winter months. Its floral display and fine foliage have made it a popular garden plant with many horticultural selections available. With the recent trend towards smaller gardens, compact dwarf forms of Banksia spinulosa have become popular. The first available, Banksia ‘Birthday Candles’, has achieved a great deal of commercial success and wide recognition, and has been followed by several others. The species has had a complicated taxonomic history, with two varieties initially described as separate species in the early 19th century. A fourth, from the New England region, has only recently been described. There has been disagreement whether one, var. cunninghamii, is distinct enough to once again have specific status.
The pre-eminent authority on Banksia, Alex George, concedes there is still more work to be done on the Banksia Spinulosa complex. The old cones of both var collina and var spinulosa are generally known and generally bare and bare. Old flower spikes fade to brown, then grey with age with age, usually for a long time, giving the infructescence a hairy appearance. In Central and North Queensland, both var. cunninghamii and var. collina are generally bare, and the first bare specimens of both collina are known and bare and usually bare. In Banksia spunulosa the flower spikes are cylindrical, about 6–7 centimetres wide and 6–15 centimetre tall, yellow to golden orange in colour, with styles varying from yellow to pink, maroon, or black. Styles of various colours may be found within metres of each other in some areas such as in the Georges River National Park, and Catherine Hill Bay, while other populations may have uniformly black, red or gold styles. Leaf edges are either serrate for the entire leaf length or toward the apex only, though the margins may be recurved and hence serrations not evident as in those from the Carnarvon Gorge. Immature leaves, which may also be seen after bushfire, are broader and serrated. The long, narrow leaves are 3–10 cm in length, 1–8 mm wide and more or less linear in shape. The style ends are initially trapped inside the upper perianth parts, but break free at anthesis.
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This page is based on the article Banksia spinulosa published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 06, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
