''Banksia bella'', commonly known as the Wongan dryandra, is a species of dense shrub that is endemic to a restricted area of Western Australia. It has narrow, deeply serrated leaves covered with white hairs on the lower surface, heads of yellow flowers and few follicles in the fruiting head.

Description

''Banksia bella'' is a dense, sprawling shrub that typically grows to a height of but does not form a lignotuber. Its stems are hairy at first but become glabrous as they age. The leaves are crowded on side branches, linear in shape, long, wide in outline, covered with white hairs on the lower surface and

pinnatisect The following is a list of terms which are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (a single leaf blade or lamina) or compound (with several leaflets). The edge of the leaf may be regular o ...

with about 35 triangular lobes about long on each side. The flowers are arranged in sessile heads of between thirty and fifty, each flower yellowish with a perianth about long. Flowering occurs in October and the fruit is a more or less spherical or broadly egg-shaped follicle long. There are usually only up to two follices in each head.

Taxonomy and naming

The Wongan dryandra was first formally described in 1856 by Carl Meissner who gave it the name ''Dryandra pulchella'' in the journal '' Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis''. In 2007 Austin Mast and Kevin Thiele transferred all the dryandras to the genus ''Banksia'' but as there was already a plant named ''

Banksia pulchella ''Banksia pulchella'', commonly known as teasel banksia, is a species of small shrub that is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It has smooth grey bark, linear leaves and golden-brown flowers in short, cylindrical heads and inconsp ...

'' (teasel banksia), Mast and Thiele chose the

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

"bella". ''Pulchella'' is from a Latin word meaning "beautiful little" and ''bella'' is from a Latin word meaning "beautiful".

Distribution and habitat

The Wongan dryandra is only found near Wongan Hills where it grows in tall shrubland and low woodland.

References

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q4856558

bella Bella is a feminine given name. It is a diminutive form of names ending in -bella. ''Bella'' is related to the Italian, Spanish, Greek, Portuguese and Latin words for beautiful, to the name Belle, meaning ''beautiful'' in French. It increased in ...

Plants described in 1856 Endemic flora of Southwest Australia Eudicots of Western Australia Taxa named by Kevin Thiele Avon Wheatbelt