''Banksia ashbyi'' subsp. ''boreoscaia'' is a shrubby, fire-tolerant subspecies of '' Banksia ashbyi''. It is the lignotuberous form of the species, and occurs along the north-west coast of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

, between Carnarvon and

North West Cape North West Cape is a peninsula in the north-west of Western Australia. Cape Range runs down the spine of the peninsula and Ningaloo Reef runs along the western edge. It is in the Gascoyne region and includes the town of Exmouth. History In 16 ...

Description

This subspecies is the shrubby, fire-tolerant form of ''B. ashbyi''. It grows as a sprawling shrub up to about metres high, with 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 ...

. This is in contrast to the

autonym Autonym may refer to: * Autonym, the name used by a person to refer to themselves or their language; see Exonym and endonym * Autonym (botany), an automatically created infrageneric or infraspecific name See also * Nominotypical subspecies, in zo ...

ic subspecies, ''B. ashbyi'' subsp. ''ashbyi'', which lacks a lignotuber, and grows as a tree up to seven metres in height. In addition, the leaves of ''B. ashbyi'' subsp. ''boreoscaia'' are consistently grey-green in colour, whereas those of ''B. ashbyi'' subsp. ''ashbyi'' are usually deep green.

Taxonomy

''Banksia ashbyi'' was first formally described in 1934 by Edmund Gilbert Baker in the ''

Journal of Botany, British and Foreign ''Journal of Botany, British and Foreign'' is a monthly journal that was published from 1863 to 1942, and founded by Berthold Carl Seemann Berthold Carl Seemann (25 February 1825, in Hanover, Germany – 10 October 1871, in Nicaragua, Centra ...

''. The specific epithet honours

Edwin Ashby Edwin Ashby (2 November 1861 – 8 January 1941) was an Adelaide based Australian property developer and a noted malacologist interested in chitonsWinckworth R. (1942). "Obituary. Edwin Ashby, 1861-1941". ''Proceedings of the Malacological Society ...

, one of the collectors of the type specimens. Subspecies ''boreoscaia'' was first formally described in 2008 by Alex George. Although distinct lignotuberous and non-lignotuberous forms of ''B. ashbyi'' had long been recognised, they were not formally described as taxa until George published the lignotuberous form as ''B. ashbyi'' subsp. ''boreoscaia'', thus invoking the

''B. ashbyi'' subsp. ''ashbyi'' for the non-lignotuberous form. George noted that although it is not possible to distinguish between the subspecies from the flowers, fruit or foliage, the distinctive differences in habit are retained in cultivation. For the

type specimen In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes th ...

of ''B. ashbyi'' subsp. ''boreoscaia'', George chose a specimen collected from Quobba Point by Kevin Francis Kenneally on 15 October 1975. The specific epithet ''boreoscaia'' is from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

''borealis'' ("northern") and ''skaios'' ("west"), and refers to the fact that this is the only ''Banksia'' taxon to occur in the north-west of Western Australia.

Distribution and habitat

''Banksia ashbyi'' subsp. ''boreoscaia'' grows on coastal dunes amongst low shrubland, from Quobba, just north of Carnarvon, north to North West Cape.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4856554 ashbyi subsp. boreoscaia Eudicots of Western Australia Plants described in 2008 Plant subspecies Endemic flora of Western Australia