''Banksia squarrosa'', commonly known as pingle, is a species of prickly 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 to narrow lance-shaped leaves with up to ten sharply-pointed teeth on each side, yellow flowers in heads of about sixty and later, up to seven oblong to egg-shaped follicles in each head.

Description

''Banksia squarrosa'' is a shrub that typically grows to a height of but 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 ...

. It has

sessile Sessility, or sessile, may refer to: * Sessility (motility), organisms which are not able to move about * Sessility (botany), flowers or leaves that grow directly from the stem or peduncle of a plant * Sessility (medicine), tumors and polyps that ...

linear to narrow lance-shaped leaves that are long and wide with up to ten sharply-pointed, triangular teeth on each side. The flowers are yellow and are arranged in heads of between fifty and seventy with narrow triangular to linear involucral bracts 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 and straight. Flowering occurs from June to November and the follicles are oblong to egg-shaped, long and more or less

glabrous Glabrousness (from the Latin ''glaber'' meaning "bald", "hairless", "shaved", "smooth") is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part of ...

. Up to seven follicles form in each head.

Taxonomy and naming

This species was first collected from 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 by William Baxter, and its description was published by Robert Brown in ''

Supplementum primum Prodromi florae Novae Hollandiae ''Supplementum primum Prodromi florae Novae Hollandiae'' ("First supplement to the Prodromus of the flora of New Holland") is an 1830 supplement to Robert Brown's ''Prodromus florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen''. It may be referred to ...

'' as ''Dryandra squarrosa'' the following year. In 1839

John Lindley John Lindley FRS (5 February 1799 – 1 November 1865) was an English botanist, gardener and orchidologist. Early years Born in Catton, near Norwich, England, John Lindley was one of four children of George and Mary Lindley. George Lindley w ...

described ''D. carduacea'' from specimens collected in the vicinity of the Swan River. In 1996, Alex George reduced ''D. carduacea'' to a

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

of ''D. squarrosa''. In 1996, George described two subspecies of ''D. squarrosa'': * ''Dryandra squarrosa'' subsp. ''argillacea'' that has a perianth long with a glabrous limb; * ''Dryandra squarrosa'' subsp. ''squarrosa'' that has a perianth long with a hairy limb. In 2007

Austin Mast Austin R. Mast is a research botanist. Born in 1972, he obtained a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2000. He is currently a professor within the Department of Biological Science at Florida State University (FSU), and has been dire ...

and

Kevin Thiele Kevin R. Thiele is currently an adjunct associate professor at the University of Western Australia and the director of Taxonomy Australia. He was the curator of the Western Australian Herbarium from 2006 to 2015. His research interests include ...

transferred all dryandras to the genus ''Banksia'' and renamed this species ''Banksia squarrosa'' and the two subspecies ''argillacea'' and ''squarrosa'' 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

Pingle is widely distributed in the south-west of Western Australia, occurring between Bindoon, the

Whicher Range Whicher Range, also known as Whicher Scarp, is a range in the South West region of Western Australia. The range has an average elevation of above sea level. Bounded by the Swan Coastal Plain to the west and the south, the Darling Scarp to th ...

and Albany, growing in woodland and forest. Subspecies ''argillacea'' has a limited distribution near the western side of the Whicher Range. Subspecies ''squarrosa'' occurs throughout the species' range, except near the Whicher Range.

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 ...

, but subspecies ''argillacea'' is listed as " Threatened Flora (Declared Rare Flora — Extant)" by the

Department of Environment and Conservation (Western Australia) The Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) was a department of the Government of Western Australia that was responsible for implementing the state's conservation and environment legislation and regulations. It was formed on 1 July 2006 ...

References

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q4856732 squarrosa Taxa named by Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773) Plants described in 1830