''Banksia prolata'' is a species of bushy 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 linear, serrated or

pinnatifid Pinnation (also called pennation) is the arrangement of feather-like or multi-divided features arising from both sides of a common Anatomical terms of location#Axes, axis. Pinnation occurs in biological morphology (biology), morphology, in Crysta ...

leaves, yellow flowers in heads of between 150 and 250, and egg-shaped follicles.

Description

''Banksia prolata'' is a bushy shrub that grows to a height of but does not form a lignotuber. It has linear, serrated or pinnatifid leaves that are long and wide on a petiole long. There are between six and twenty-one sharply-pointed, triangular teeth on each side of the leaves. The flowers are yellow and borne in heads of between 150 and 250 with hairy, lance-shaped involucral bracts up to long at the base of each head. The

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 ...

is 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 April to October, and the follicles are egg-shaped and long.

Taxonomy and naming

This species was first formally described in 1810 by Robert Brown who gave it the name ''Dryandra longifolia'' and published the description in '' Transactions of the Linnean Society of London'' from material collected near Lucky Bay. 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 ...

(''longifolia'') is derived from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

words ''longus'', "long" and ''folium'', "leaf".Backer, C.A. (1936). ''Verklarend woordenboek der wetenschappelijke namen van de in Nederland en Nederlandsch-Indië in het wild groeiende en in tuinen en parken gekweekte varens en hoogere planten'' (Edition Nicoline van der Sijs). In 1996,

Alex George Alexander or Alex George may refer to: *Alex George (botanist) (born 1939), Australian botanist * Alexander L. George (1920–2006), American political scientist * Alexander George (philosopher), American philosopher *Alex George (motorcyclist), Sc ...

described three subspecies of ''Dryandra longifolia'' in the journal ''

Nuytsia ''Nuytsia floribunda'' is a hemiparasitic tree found in Western Australia. The species is known locally as moodjar and, more recently, the Christmas tree or Western Australian Christmas tree. The display of intensely bright flowers during the ...

'': * ''Dryandra longifolia'' subsp. ''archeos'' A.S.George has flowers with larger organs than those of the other two subspecies, including bracts that are long; * ''Dryandra longifolia'' subsp. ''calcicola'' A.S.George is similar to the autonym but has straight bracts up to long; * ''Dryandra longifolia'' R.Br. subsp. ''longifolia'' has bracts up to long that curve downwards. In 2007 Austin Mast and Kevin Thiele transferred all dryandras to the genus ''Banksia'', but since the name ''Banksia longifolia'' had already been used (''Banksia longifolia'' Donn ex F.Dietr.), Mast and Thiele gave this species the name ''Banksia prolata''. The epithet (''prolata'') is from a Latin word meaning "drawn out". The subspecies were named ''archeos'', ''calcicola'' and ''prolata'' respectively. The names of the subspecies are accepted by the

Australian Plant Census The Australian Plant Census (APC) provides an online interface to currently accepted, published, scientific names of the vascular flora of Australia, as one of the output interfaces of the national government Integrated Biodiversity Information Syst ...

Distribution and habitat

Subspecies ''archeos'' grows among boulders in dense scrub on Mount Arid in the

Cape Arid National Park Cape Arid National Park is a List of national parks of Australia, national park located in Western Australia, southeast of Perth. The park is situated east of Esperance, Western Australia, Esperance and lies on the shore of the South coast of W ...

, subspecies ''calcicola'' in scrub to the west of

Esperance Bay Esperance Bay is a bay on the south coast of Western Australia. Nominally located at , it is the site of the town of Esperance. The bay was discovered on 9 December 1792 by a French expedition under Bruni d'Entrecasteaux, which sailed in searc ...

and subspecies ''longifolia'' in scrub near granite slopes between Cape Le Grand to Cape Paisley in the Cape Le Grand National Park and on Mondrain Island in the Recherche Archipelago.

Conservation status

''Banksia prolata'' is listed 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 ...

but subspecies ''archeos'' is listed as " Priority Two" meaning that it is poorly known and from only one or a few locations, subspecies ''calcicola'' as " Priority Four" meaning that is rare or near threatened and subspecies ''prolata'' as " Priority Three" meaning that it is poorly known and known from only a few locations but is not under imminent threat.

References

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q4856676 prolata Plants described in 1810 Taxa named by Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773)