''Banksia vestita'', commonly known as summer dryandra, is a species of shrub that is endemic to the southwest of Western Australia. It has broadly linear, pinnatifid leaves with sharply pointed teeth on both sides, yellow flowers in heads of between thirty and forty, and broadly egg-shaped follicles.

Description

''Banksia vestita'' is a shrub that typically grows to a height of high and forms a lignotuber. It has hairy stems and broadly linear leaves that are long and wide on a petiole long. There are between four and twelve sharply-pointed, triangular teeth on each side of the leaves. The flowers are golden yellow, and occur in a dome-shaped inflorescence up to across, typically containing thirty to forty flowers, with hairy, linear, tapering

involucral bracts In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, ...

up to long at the base of the head. The perianth 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 January to April or in August and the fruit is a broadly egg-shaped follicle long.

Taxonomy

The species was first collected by James Drummond in the 1840s, from a location described simply as "south-western W.A.". Richard Kippist subsequently named and formally described the species, and Kippist's description of ''Dryandra vestita'' was published in 1855 by Carl Meissner in ''

Hooker's Journal of Botany and Kew Garden Miscellany ''Hooker's Journal of Botany and Kew Garden Miscellany'' was a scientific journal In academic publishing, a scientific journal is a periodical publication intended to further the progress of science, usually by reporting new research. Cont ...

''. It was given the specific name "vestita" from the Latin ''vestitus'' ("clothed"), in reference to the hairy bracts that cover the lower parts of new shoots.

Otto Kuntze Carl Ernst Otto Kuntze (23 June 1843 – 27 January 1907) was a German botanist. Biography Otto Kuntze was born in Leipzig. An apothecary in his early career, he published an essay entitled ''Pocket Fauna of Leipzig''. Between 1863 and 1866 he ...

transferred ''Dryandra'' to ''Josephia'' in 1890, republishing ''D. vestita'' as ''Josephia vestita'' (Kippist ex Meisn.) Kuntze, but his changes were not accepted by the wider scientific community. In 1999,

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 ...

placed the species in ''Dryandra'' subgenus ''Dryandra'', series ''Gymnocephalae''. Early in 2007, Austin Mast and Kevin Thiele transferred all ''Dryandra'' taxa to '' Banksia'', giving this species the name ''Banksia vestita''. As an interim measure, Mast and Thiele placed all but one ''Dryandra'' taxon in ''Banksia'' ser. ''Dryandra''.

Distribution and habitat

''Banksia vestita'' grows in sand over

laterite Laterite is both a soil and a rock type rich in iron and aluminium and is commonly considered to have formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are of rusty-red coloration, because of high iron oxide content. They develop by ...

, amongst heath dominated by species of

Proteaceae The Proteaceae form a family of flowering plants predominantly distributed in the Southern Hemisphere. The family comprises 83 genera with about 1,660 known species. Together with the Platanaceae and Nelumbonaceae, they make up the order Pro ...

and

Myrtaceae Myrtaceae, the myrtle family, is a family of dicotyledonous plants placed within the order Myrtales. Myrtle, pōhutukawa, bay rum tree, clove, guava, acca (feijoa), allspice, and eucalyptus are some notable members of this group. All speci ...

. It occurs from Eneabba in the north to

Lake Grace A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much lar ...

in the south, thus ranging the Geraldton Sandplains,

Swan Coastal Plain The Swan Coastal Plain in Western Australia is the geographic feature which contains the Swan River as it travels west to the Indian Ocean. The coastal plain continues well beyond the boundaries of the Swan River and its tributaries, as a geol ...

, Jarrah Forest, Avon Wheatbelt and Mallee

biogeographic regions A biogeographic realm or ecozone is the broadest biogeographic division of Earth's land surface, based on distributional patterns of terrestrial organisms. They are subdivided into bioregions, which are further subdivided into ecoregions. De ...

. This areas has annual average rainfall ranging from , and between 66 and 116 days above . In southern parts of its distribution, the mean temperature range is ; further north it is somewhat warmer, with a mean temperature range of .

Ecology

Like most other

, ''B. vestita'' has proteoid roots, roots with dense clusters of short lateral rootlets that form a mat in the soil just below the leaf litter. These enhance solubilisation of nutrients, thus allowing nutrient uptake in low-nutrient soils such as the phosphorus-deficient native soils of Australia. It has a lignotuber, so it is able to resprout from below the ground following a bushfire; bushfire also triggers the release of its seed, an adaptation known as serotiny. An assessment of the potential impact of climate change on this species found that its range is likely to contract by between 30% and 80% by 2080, depending on the severity of the change.

Conservation status

Summer dryandra 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 en ...

Use in horticulture

''Banksia vestita'' is not often cultivated, as it is not considered a particularly attractive plant. In cultivation it grows slowly, but is long-lived; specimens at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Cranbourne are still healthy and flowering at twenty years of age. It takes from six to seven weeks to germinate, with a germination success rate of around 70%. It requires a very well drained sandy soil in full sun. It tolerates drought well, is moderately frost-tolerant, and takes pruning well.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4856760 vestita Endemic flora of Western Australia Plants described in 1855 Taxa named by Carl Meissner