''Banksia tridentata'', commonly known as yellow honeypot, is a low-growing 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 else ...

to the southwest of Western Australia. It has narrow egg-shaped leaves with a sharp point on the tip, greenish yellow flowers in heads of between 85 and 125, and elliptical to egg-shaped follicles.

Description

''Banksia tridentata'' is a shrub that typically grows to a height of and forms 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 narrow egg-shaped leaves long and wide on a petiole long. There is a small sharp point on the tip and sometimes two or three small teeth near the tip of the leaf. The flowers are greenish yellow and arranged in heads of between 85 and 125 with hairy, linear, tapering involucral bracts up to long at the base of the 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 long. Flowering occurs from August to September and the fruit is a sparsely hairy, elliptical to egg-shaped follicle long.

Taxonomy

This species was first formally described in 1856 by

Carl Meissner Carl Daniel Friedrich Meissner (1 November 1800 – 2 May 1874) was a Swiss botanist. Biography Born in Bern, Switzerland on 1 November 1800, he was christened Meisner but later changed the spelling of his name to Meissner. For most of his 40 ...

who gave it the name ''Dryandra tridentata'' and published the description in '' Hooker's Journal of Botany and Kew Garden Miscellany''. In 1893

Benjamin Daydon Jackson Benjamin Daydon Jackson (3 April 1846 – 12 October 1927) was a pioneering botanist and taxonomer who wrote the first volume of ''Index Kewensis'' to include all the flowering plants. Biography Jackson was the eldest child of Benjamin Daydo ...

accidentally listed it in ''

Index Kewensis The 1893 ''Index Kewensis'' (IK), maintained by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, is a publication that aims to register all botanical names for seed plants at the rank of species and genera. It later came to include names of taxonomic families and ...

'' under ''

Banksia ''Banksia'' is a genus of around 170 species in the plant family Proteaceae. These Australian wildflowers and popular garden plants are easily recognised by their characteristic flower spikes, and fruiting "cones" and heads. ''Banksias'' range ...

'', thus unwittingly publishing the name ''Banksia tridentata''. This is now the current name for the species, as in 2007 all ''Dryandra'' species were transferred to ''

'' by

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 dir ...

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 ...

Distribution and habitat

''Banksia tridentata'' grows in

kwongan Kwongan is plant community found in south-western Western Australia. The name is a Bibbelmun (Noongar) Aboriginal term of wide geographical use defined by Beard (1976) as Kwongan has replaced other terms applied by European botanists such as ...

between the Arrowsmith and Hill Rivers.

Ecology

An assessment of the potential impact of

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

on this species found that its range is unlikely to contract and may actually grow, depending on how effectively it migrates into newly habitable areas.

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 ...

References

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q4856752 tridentata Plants described in 1855 Taxa named by Carl Meissner