''Banksia baxteri'', commonly known as Baxter's banksia or bird's nest banksia, is a species of shrub that is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to Western Australia. It has greyish brown bark, hairy stems, deeply serrated leaves with triangular lobes and lemon-yellow flowers in an oval flower spike that grows on the end of branches.

Description

''Banksia baxteri'' is an erect shrub that typically groups to a height of and that does not form a

lignotuber A lignotuber is a woody swelling of the root crown possessed by some plants as a protection against destruction of the plant stem, such as by fire. Other woody plants may develop basal burls as a similar survival strategy, often as a response t ...

. The branchlets and leaves are densely covered with woolly, white hairs when young. The leaves are wedge-shaped, long and wide in outline on a petiole long, divided to the midlobe with between four and seven triangular lobes on each side surrounded by V-shaped spaces. The flowers are arranged in a broad oval inflorescence wide on the ends of branches, the individual flowers lemon-yellow with a

perianth The perianth (perigonium, perigon or perigone in monocots) is the non-reproductive part of the flower, and structure that forms an envelope surrounding the sexual organs, consisting of the calyx (sepals) and the corolla (petals) or tepals when ...

long and the

pistil Gynoecium (; ) is most commonly used as a collective term for the parts of a flower that produce ovules and ultimately develop into the fruit and seeds. The gynoecium is the innermost whorl of a flower; it consists of (one or more) ''pistils'' ...

long. Flowering occurs from December to May but mainly from January to March. Only a few follicles long, high and wide develop surrounded by the old flowers.

Taxonomy and naming

''Banksia baxteri'' was first formally described in 1830 by Robert Brown in the supplement to his ''

Prodromus A prodromus ('forerunner' or 'precursor') aka prodrome is a term used in the natural sciences to describe a preliminary publication intended as the basis for a later, more comprehensive work. It is also a medical term used for a premonitory sympt ...

''. The type specimens were collected by William Baxter in the mountains near

King George Sound King George Sound ( nys , Menang Koort) is a sound on the south coast of Western Australia. Named King George the Third's Sound in 1791, it was referred to as King George's Sound from 1805. The name "King George Sound" gradually came into use ...

in 1829. In 1891,

Otto Kuntze Carl Ernst Otto Kuntze (23 June 1843 – 27 January 1907) was a German botanist. Biography Otto Kuntze was born in Leipzig. An apothecary in his early career, he published an essay entitled ''Pocket Fauna of Leipzig''. Between 1863 and 1866 he ...

, in his ''

Revisio Generum Plantarum ''Revisio Generum Plantarum'', also known by its standard botanical abbreviation ''Revis. Gen. Pl.'', is a botanic treatise by Otto Kuntze. It was published in three volumes; the first two of these appeared in 1891, and the third was published in ...

'', 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 ''Pimelea'', commonly known as rice flowers, is a genus of plants belonging to the family Thymelaeaceae. There are about 150 species, including 110 in Australia and thirty six in New Zealand. Description Plants in the genus ''Pimelea'' are he ...

''. Kuntze proposed ''Sirmuellera'' as an alternative, referring to this species as ''Sirmuellera baxteri''. This application of the

principle of priority 270px, '' valid name. Priority is a fundamental principle of modern botanical nomenclature and zoological nomenclature. Essentially, it is the principle of recognising the first valid application of a name to a plant or animal. There are two asp ...

was largely ignored by Kuntze's contemporaries, and ''Banksia'' L.f. was formally conserved and ''Sirmuellera'' rejected in 1940.

Distribution and habitat

Baxter's banksia grows with other shrubs such as '' Lambertia inermis'', usually in deep sand and mostly occurs within of the coast between

East Mount Barren East Mount Barren is a quartzite peak of the Barren Range in Fitzgerald River National Park. It was sighted and named by explorer Matthew Flinders on 6 January 1802, together with two other peaks in the range, West Mount Barren and Middle Moun ...

and

Israelite Bay Israelite Bay is a bay and locality on the south coast of Western Australia. Situated in the Shire of Esperance local government area, it lies east of Esperance and the Cape Arid National Park, within the Nuytsland Nature Reserve and the Grea ...

Conservation status

This banksia is classified as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government

Department of Parks and Wildlife The Department of Parks and Wildlife (DPaW) was the department of the Government of Western Australia responsible for managing lands described in the ''Conservation and Land Management Act 1984'' and implementing the state's conservation and e ...

Ecology

A 1980 field study at Cheyne Beach showed it to be pollinated by the

New Holland honeyeater The New Holland honeyeater (''Phylidonyris novaehollandiae'') is a honeyeater species found throughout southern Australia. It was among the first birds to be scientifically described in Australia, and was initially named ''Certhia novaehollandi ...

and

white-cheeked honeyeater The white-cheeked honeyeater (''Phylidonyris niger'') inhabits the east coast and the south-west corner of Australia. It has a large white patch on its cheek, brown eyes, and a yellow panel on its wing. Taxonomy The white-cheeked honeyeater was ...

. ''Banksia baxteri'' is

serotinous Serotiny in botany simply means 'following' or 'later'. In the case of serotinous flowers, it means flowers which grow following the growth of leaves, or even more simply, flowering later in the season than is customary with allied species. Havi ...

, that is, it has an aerial seed bank in its canopy in the form of the follicles of the old flower spikes. These are opened with fire and release seed in large numbers, which germinate and grow after rain. Seed can last for many years; old spikes 9 to 12 years old have been found to have seed that remains 100% viable.

Use in horticulture

Seeds do not require any treatment, and take 21 to 42 days to

germinate Germination is the process by which an organism grows from a seed or spore. The term is applied to the sprouting of a seedling from a seed of an angiosperm or gymnosperm, the growth of a sporeling from a spore, such as the spores of fungi, fer ...

References

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q4856557 baxteri Eudicots of Western Australia Plants described in 1830 Endemic flora of Western Australia Taxa named by Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773)