''Banksia conferta'', commonly known as the glasshouse banksia,
is a species of 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 eastern Australia. It has rough, bark on the trunk, elliptic to egg-shaped leaves arranged in
whorls, crowded yellow flowers in a cylindrical spike later forming a relatively large number of
follicles.
Description
''Banksia conferta'' 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 rough, grey, tessellated bark on the trunk and orange, red or brown stems that are hairy at first. The leaves are
arranged
In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchest ...
in whorls and are elliptic to egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, long and wide with the edges curved downwards and sometimes serrated. The flowers are crowded in a cylindrical spike long with
involucral bracts long at the base. The flowers are yellowish green to pinkish brown in the bud stage, turning golden yellow when open. 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 is long and slightly curved. Flowering occurs from late April to July and the fruit is a narrow elliptical
follicle long, high and wide. More than 100 follicles often form in each spike, surrounded by the remains of the flowers. The follicles remain until the plant is burned, unlike those of the similar ''
B. integrifolia'' which also has less crowded flowers.
Taxonomy and naming
''Banksia conferta'' was first collected by
Lawrie Johnson
Lawrence Alexander Sidney Johnson Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, FAA, (26 June 1925 – 1 August 1997) known as Lawrie Johnson, was an Australian Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic botany, botanist. He worked at the Royal Botanic Garden ...
from the McPherson Range in Lamington National Park in May 1951, but not formally described until 1981.
Alex George named it in the journal ''
Nuytsia
''Nuytsia floribunda'' is a hemiparasitic tree found in Western Australia. The species is known locally as moodjar and, more recently, the Christmas tree or Western Australian Christmas tree. The display of intensely bright flowers during the ...
'' from specimens he collected from
Mount Tibrogargan in the
Glass House Mountains National Park
Glass House Mountains National Park is a heritage-listed national park at Glass House Mountains, Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. It is also known as Beerburrum Forest Reserve 1. It is north of Brisbane and consists of a flat plai ...
in 1975.
The
specific epithet (''conferta'') is a Latin word meaning "crowded".
He felt it had evolved from ''Banksia integrifolia'' but was distinct enough to warrant species status.
In the same journal, George described variety ''conferta''
and var. ''penicillata'',
and in 1996 he described subspecies ''conferta''
and subsp. ''penicillata''.
He described subsp. ''conferta'' as being found in southern Queensland on the
Lamington Plateau and the Glass House Mountains and subsp. ''penicillata'' from
Bowral
Bowral () is the largest town in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, about ninety minutes southwest of Sydney. It is the main business and entertainment precinct of the Wingecarribee Shire and Highlands.
Bowral once served ...
to north of
Lithgow in New South Wales.
In 1996,
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 ...
and
Pauline Ladiges raised subspecies ''penicillata'' to species status as ''B. penicillata'' in ''
Australian Systematic Botany
''Australian Systematic Botany'' is an international peer-reviewed scientific journal published by CSIRO Publishing. It is devoted to publishing original research, and sometimes review articles, on topics related to systematic botany, such as bio ...
'', based on the differences in habit, bark, leaf shape, indumentum and flower colour, and the fact that the two taxa were so far from each other. According to their morphological cladistic analysis, ''B. penicillata'' was sister taxon to ''B. paludosa''.
Hence var. ''conferta'' and subsp. ''conferta'' became
synonyms of ''B. conferta''.
Distribution and habitat
This banksia is known from the
Lamington Plateau and the
Glass House Mountains
The Glass House Mountains are a cluster of thirteen hills that rise abruptly from the coastal plain on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia. The highest hill is Mount Beerwah at 556 metres above sea level, but the most identifiable of a ...
in southern Queensland where it grows on steep rocky slopes in scrub and open shrubland and in the
Coorabakh National Park
Coorabakh is a national park located near Hannam Vale in New South Wales, Australia, northeast of Sydney.
Three volcanic outcrops known as ''Big Nellie'' (), ''Flat Nellie'' () and ''Little Nellie'' () dominate the park.
The park is covered i ...
in New South Wales. Subspecies ''conferta'' is restricted to the Coorabakh National Park and is listed as "critically endangered" under the ''
Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016''.
References
*
{{Taxonbar, from=Q593064
conferta
Flora of Queensland
Flora of New South Wales
Plants described in 1981