Banksia Spinulosa Var. Collina

''Banksia spinulosa'' var. ''collina'' is a shrub that grows along the east coast of Australia, in Queensland and New South Wales. Commonly known as Hill Banksia or Golden Candlesticks, it is a taxonomic variety of '' B. spinulosa'' (Hairpin Banksia). It is a popular garden plant widely sold in nurseries.

Description

As with the other varieties of ''B. spinulosa'' (Hairpin Banksia), ''B. spinulosa'' var. ''collina'' grows as a multi-stemmed lignotuberous shrub with flower spikes that are all golden or golden with red or purple styles. Its leaves are broader than those of ''B. spinulosa'' var. ''spinulosa'', and usually but not always serrate. It can be distinguished from ''B. spinulosa'' var. ''cunninghamii'' by its lignotuber and resultant multi-stemmed habit. ''p. 394–396''

Taxonomy

''B. spinulosa'' var. ''collina'' was first published as ''Banksia collina'' by Robert Brown in 1810, based on specimens he found among hills in the vicinity of the Hunter River, New South Wales in New South Wales in 1802. Brown did not give an explicit reason for the specific epithet "collina", but it is universally accepted that it is from the Latin ''collinus'' ("of hills"), in reference to the topography of the area in which he first found it. The species is in fact not restricted to hilly terrain, so the specific epithet is misleading. ''p''. 117. Brown apparently neglected to collect a specimen for the taxon, so a specimen collected by George Caley at Newcastle has since been declared a neotype.

It retained its specific rank in Brown's 1830 arrangement of ''Banksia'', being placed in subgenus ''Banksia verae'', the "True Banksias", because its inflorescence is a typical Banksia flower spike. It was placed immediately after ''B. cunninghamii'' (now ''B. spinulosa'' var. ''cunninghamii'') and ''B. spinulosa'', and before '' B. occidentalis'' (Red Swamp Banksia). ''Banksia verae'' was renamed ''Eubanksia'' by Stephan Endlicher in 1847.

Carl Meissner demoted ''Eubanksia'' to sectional rank in his 1856 classification, and divided it into four series, with ''B. collina'' placed alongside ''B. cunninghamii'' in series '' Salicinae'', while ''B. spinulosa'' was placed in series '' Abietinae''. The following year a taxonomic synonym was published: seeds of this variety must have been sent to Russia, as in 1857 the name ''Banksia guentheri'' was published by Eduard August von Regel, based on material cultivated in Leningrad; this has since been declared a taxonomic synonym of ''B. spinulosa'' var. ''collina''. This was determined to be a taxonomic synonym of ''B. collina'' shortly afterwards, and was formally declared a synonym of ''B. spinulosa'' var. ''collina'' by George in 1981.

When George Bentham published his 1870 arrangement in ''Flora Australiensis'', he discarded Meissner's series, placing all the species with hooked styles together in a section that he named '' Oncostylis''. ''B. collina'' was placed between ''B. spinulosa'' and '' B. verticillata'' (Granite Banksia), and both ''B. cunninghamii'' and the western species '' B. littoralis'' (Western Swamp Banksia) were reduced to synonymy with it. This arrangement would stand for over a century.

In 1891, Otto Kuntze, in his ''Revisio Generum Plantarum'', 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''. Kuntze proposed ''Sirmuellera'' as an alternative, referring to this species as ''Sirmuellera collina''. This application of the principle of priority was largely ignored by Kuntze's contemporaries, and ''Banksia'' L.f. was formally conserved and ''Sirmuellera'' rejected in 1940.

Alex George published a new taxonomic arrangement of ''Banksia'' in his landmark 1981 monograph ''The genus Banksia L.f. (Proteaceae)''. Endlicher's ''Eubanksia'' became ''B.'' subg. ''Banksia'', and was divided into three sections, one of which was ''Oncostylis''. ''Oncostylis'' was further divided into four series, with ''B. spinulosa'' placed in series ''Spicigerae'' because its inflorescences are cylindrical. ''B. collina'' was demoted to one of three varieties of ''B. spinulosa'', and placed between ''B. spinulosa'' var. ''spinulosa'' and ''B. spinulosa'' var. ''cunninghamii''.

In 1996, Kevin Thiele and Pauline Ladiges published a new arrangement for the genus, after cladistic analyses yielded a cladogram significantly different from George's arrangement. Thiele and Ladiges' arrangement retained ''B. spinulosa'' var. ''collina''s position within the ''B. spinulosa'' complex, and retained ''B. spinulosa'' in series ''Spicigerae'', but placed the species alone in ''B.'' subser. ''Spinulosae''. This arrangement stood until 1999, when George effectively reverted to his 1981 arrangement in his monograph for the ''Flora of Australia'' series.

Under George's taxonomic arrangement of ''Banksia'', ''B. spinulosa'' var. ''collina'''s taxonomic placement may be summarised as follows:

:Genus ''Banksia''
::Subgenus ''Banksia''
:::Section ''Banksia''
:::Section '' Coccinea''
:::Section '' Oncostylis''
::::Series '' Spicigerae''
:::::'' B. spinulosa''
:::::: ''B. spinulosa'' var. ''spinulosa''
::::::''B. spinulosa'' var. ''collina''
:::::: ''B. spinulosa'' var. ''neoanglica''
:::::: ''B. spinulosa'' var. ''cunninghamii''
:::::'' B. ericifolia''
:::::'' B. verticillata''
:::::'' B. seminuda''
:::::'' B. littoralis''
:::::'' B. occidentalis''
:::::'' B. brownii''
::::Series '' Tricuspidae''
::::Series '' Dryandroidae''
::::Series '' Abietinae''
::Subgenus '' Isostylis''

Since 1998, Austin Mast has been publishing results of ongoing cladistic analyses of DNA sequence data for the subtribe Banksiinae. His analyses suggest a phylogeny that is very greatly different to George's arrangement. George's and Thiele and Ladiges' positioning of ''B. spinulosa'' var. ''collina'' within ''B. spinulosa'' is supported, but ''B. spinulosa'''s placement is not. Series ''Spicigerae'' appears to be polyphyletic, with ''B. spinulosa'' and ''B. ericifolia'' more closely related to the taxa in Series ''Salicinae'' than it is to the other members of series ''Spicigerae''. Early in 2007, Mast and Thiele initiated a rearrangement of ''Banksia'' by merging ''Dryandra'' into it, and publishing ''B.'' subg. ''Spathulatae'' for the species having spoon-shaped cotyledons. They foreshadowed publishing a full arrangement once DNA sampling of ''Dryandra'' was complete; in the meantime, if Mast and Thiele's nomenclatural changes are taken as an interim arrangement, then ''B. spinulosa'' var. ''collina'' is placed in ''B.'' subg. ''Spathulatae''.

Distribution and habitat

It mainly occurs along the coast from Gympie in Queensland south to Sydney. There are also outlying populations at Carnarvon National Park (around 500 kilometres from any other population), Crows Nest and Mount Barney National Park in Queensland, and at Boonoo Boonoo. It mainly grows in sand overlying sandstone, but also occurs in heavier soils. It is usually an understory shrub in open forests and woodlands of ''Eucalyptus''.

Cultivation

As with other varieties of ''B. spinulosa'' it is considered attractive, but is highly variable. It grows slowly, taking up to eight years to flower. It tolerates a range of soil conditions and aspects, survives frosts down to at least , and may be pruned heavily.

Commercial forms of this variety include ''Banksia'' "Stumpy Gold" from the NSW Central Coast, and the unusual ''Banksia'' "Carnarvon Gold" from Carnarvon National Park.

References

External links

*

''Banksia spinulosa'' var. ''collina'' (R.Br.) A.S.George
PlantNET: The Plant Information Network System of the Botanic Gardens Trust.
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{{Taxonbar, from=Q4856724

spinulosa var. collina
Flora of New South Wales
Flora of Queensland
Garden plants of Australia
Taxa named by Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773)