The Prostrate Banksia (Banksia gardneri) is a species of prostrate shrub

Prostrate shrub

A prostrate shrub is a woody plant, most of the branches of which lie upon or just under the ground, rather than being held erect as are the branches of most trees and shrubs....

 in the plant

Plant

Plants are living organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. Precise definitions of the kingdom vary, but as the term is used here, plants include familiar organisms such as trees, flowers, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. The group is also called green plants or...

 genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 Banksia

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. When it comes to size, banksias range from prostrate woody shrubs to trees up...

. It occurs along the south coast of Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

.

Scientific name

It was initially named Banksia prostrata, but Alex George

Alex George

Alexander Segger George is a Western Australian botanist. He is the authority on the plant genera Banksia and Dryandra...

 discovered that name was illegal because it was already a valid synonym of Pimelia prostrata. He broke his rule about never naming plants after people and named it after Charles Gardner

Charles Gardner

Charles Austin Gardner was a Western Australian botanist.Born in Lancaster, England on 6 January 1896, he emigrated to Western Australia with his family in 1909....

 in honour of his work on banksias.

Description

It is a slow growing prostrate woody shrub with thick horizontal stems and upright broadly roughly triangularly lobed leaves to 40 cm high (though usually less) and 2 to 6 cm wide. The furry rusty brown flower spikes are cylindrical with cream, or rarely black styles. Flowering is in late spring. It is lignotuberorous and regenerates by resprouting after fire.

Distribution and habitat

It grows in sand or gravel between Denmark

Denmark, Western Australia

Denmark is a town in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, south-south-east of the state capital of Perth. At the 2006 census, Denmark had a population of 2,732.-History:...

 and Hopetoun

Hopetoun, Western Australia

Hopetoun is a town on the south coast of Western Australia in the Shire of Ravensthorpe. Located on Mary Ann Haven, Hopetoun is some south-east from capital city Perth and west of Esperance.-History:...

.

Taxonomy

Three subspecies are recognised:

• B. g. gardneri
• B. g. hiemalis
• B. g. brevidentata

Cultivation

B. g. gardneri is a slow growing shrub though fairly easy to grow. It is less vigorous than Banksia blechnifolia

Banksia blechnifolia

Banksia blechnifolia is a species of prostrate shrub in the plant genus Banksia. Found in sandy soils in the south coastal region of Western Australia in the vicinity of Lake King, it is non-lignotuberous, regenerating by seed after bushfire...

or B. petiolaris

Banksia petiolaris

Banksia petiolaris is a species of shrub of the genus Banksia in the Proteaceae family. It is a prostrate banksia, a group of several closely related species all with horizontal stems and thick, leathery upright leaves. No varieties have been subsequently described. It bears yellow inflorescences...

. Seeds do not require any treatment, and take 19 to 64 days to germinate.

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