Banksia proteoides
Encyclopedia
Banksia proteoides, commonly known as King Dryandra, is a shrub
Shrub
A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...

 endemic to 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...

. It was known as Dryandra proteoides until 2007, when all Dryandra species were transferred to 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...

by Austin Mast
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 an associate professor within the Department of Biological Science at Florida State University , and has been director of FSU's since August 2003.One of his...

 and Kevin Thiele
Kevin Thiele
Kevin R. Thiele is curator of the Western Australian Herbarium. His research interests include the systematics of the plant families Proteaceae, Rhamnaceae and Violaceae, and the conservation ecology of grassy woodland ecosystems...

.

Description

It is a dense, bushy shrub, without a lignotuber
Lignotuber
A lignotuber is a starchy swelling of the root crown possessed by some plants as a protection against destruction of the plant stem by fire. The crown contains buds from which new stems may sprout, and a sufficient store of nutrients to support a period of growth in the absence of...

, that reaches up to two metres high. Leaves are linear, 20 to 26 centimetres long and 10 to 20 millimetres long, with a pointed tip and serrated margins. Inflorescence
Inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...

 are yellow-brown, but concealed within the long red-brown outer bracts, making the flower head resemble that of a Protea
Protea
Protea is both the botanical name and the English common name of a genus of flowering plants, sometimes also called sugarbushes.-Etymology:...

.

Taxonomy

Specimens of B. proteoides were first collected in the 1830s by James Drummond
James Drummond (botanist)
James Drummond was a botanist and naturalist who was an early settler in Western Australia.-Early life:...

 from the vicinity of the Swan River Colony
Swan River Colony
The Swan River Colony was a British settlement established in 1829 on the Swan River, in Western Australia. The name was a pars pro toto for Western Australia. In 1832, the colony was officially renamed Western Australia, when the colony's founding Lieutenant-Governor, Captain James Stirling,...

. The species was published under the name Dryandra proteoides by John Lindley
John Lindley
John Lindley FRS was an English botanist, gardener and orchidologist.-Early years:Born in Catton, near Norwich, England, John Lindley was one of four children of George and Mary Lindley. George Lindley was a nurseryman and pomologist and ran a commercial nursery garden...

 in his 1840 A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony
A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony
A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony, also known by its standard botanical abbreviation Sketch Veg. Swan R., is an 1839 article by John Lindley on the flora of the Swan River Colony...

, where he described it as having "much the look of a Cape Protea
Protea
Protea is both the botanical name and the English common name of a genus of flowering plants, sometimes also called sugarbushes.-Etymology:...

". Lindley did not specify his type
Biological type
In biology, a type is one particular specimen of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached...

 material, and there is no type at the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...

 Herbarium, where most of Lindley's type specimens are lodged. However most of A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony is based upon the collections of Drummond, and one of Drummond's specimens has since been selected as lectotype
Lectotype
In botanical nomenclature and zoological nomenclature, a lectotype is a kind of name-bearing type. When a species was originally described on the basis of a name-bearing type consisting of multiple specimens, one of those may be designated as the lectotype...

 for the species. Lindley also proffered no etymology
Etymology
Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...

 for the specific epithet, but it is accepted that it is a reference to the similarity of the flower heads to those of Protea.

The species has no infraspecific taxa; in 1870 George Bentham
George Bentham
George Bentham CMG FRS was an English botanist, characterized by Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century".- Formative years :...

 demoted Dryandra ferruginea (now Banksia rufa
Banksia rufa
Banksia rufa is a shrub endemic to Western Australia. It was first published by Carl Meisner in 1855, where it was given the name Dryandra ferruginea by Richard Kippist. The following year, Meisner published what was purportedly a distinct species, Dryandra runcinata...

) to a variety of D. proteoides, but this has since been reinstated to specific rank.

There have been two attempts to transfer the species from Dryandra to a new name: in 1891, Otto Kuntze
Otto Kuntze
Otto Carl Ernst Kuntze 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...

 made an unsuccessful attempt to transfer the genus Dryandra into the name Josephia, in the process publishing the incorrectly spelled name Josephia proteodes for this species. That name is now considered a nomenclatural synonym of B. proteoides. More recently, in 2007 the genus Dryandra was transferred into 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...

by Austin Mast
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 an associate professor within the Department of Biological Science at Florida State University , and has been director of FSU's since August 2003.One of his...

 and Kevin Thiele
Kevin Thiele
Kevin R. Thiele is curator of the Western Australian Herbarium. His research interests include the systematics of the plant families Proteaceae, Rhamnaceae and Violaceae, and the conservation ecology of grassy woodland ecosystems...

, resulting in the publication of the current name for this species, Banksia proteoides (Lindl.) A.R.Mast & K.R.Thiele.

Distribution and habitat

It grows in sandy gravelly soils or sandy loam, in lateritic
Laterite
Laterites are soil types rich in iron and aluminium, formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are rusty-red because of iron oxides. They develop by intensive and long-lasting weathering of the underlying parent rock...

 hills amongst Wandoo or Powderbark woodlands, between Toodyay
Toodyay, Western Australia
Toodyay is a town located in the Wheatbelt region in the Avon Valley, 85 km north-east of Perth, Western Australia. Toodyay is connected to Perth via both rail and road.-History:...

 and the Dryandra Woodland
Dryandra Woodland
The Dryandra Woodland is a nature conservation area in Western Australia within the Shires of Cuballing, Williams and Wandering, about 164 kilometres south-east of Perth and 22 kilometres north-west of the town of Narrogin...

, and also west of Kojonup
Kojonup, Western Australia
Kojonup is a town located 256 km south-east of Perth, Western Australia along Albany Highway.The name Kojonup is believed to refer to the "Kodja" or stone axe made by Indigenous Australians from the local stone....

. Thus it occurs in the Avon Wheatbelt
Avon Wheatbelt
Avon Wheatbelt is an Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia region in Western Australia and part of the larger Southwest Australia savanna ecoregion.-Further reading:...

 and Jarrah Forest
Jarrah Forest
Jarrah Forest is an Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia region in Western Australia.-Location and description:The ecoregion stands on the 300m high Yilgarn block inland plateau and includes wooded valleys such as those of Western Australia's Murray River and the Helena River near...

 regions of the Southwest Botanic Province.

Cultivation

B. proteoides is not often cultivated. It requires an extremely well drained soil, being particularly susceptible to poor drainage. It prefers full sun and is hardy to both drought and frost once established. Propagation is by seed, but this is be no means easy. It is thought that the seed must be no older than twelve months, and even germination is erratic and slow.

External links

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