Banksia rufa 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 first published by Carl Meisner in 1855, where it was given the name Dryandra ferruginea by Richard Kippist

Richard Kippist

Richard Kippist was an English botanist and librarian.Kippist was born in Stoke Newington, London, on 11 June 1812. He worked as a clerk in the office of Joseph Woods, F.L.S., architect, with whom he shared an interest in botany. He was employed by the Linnean Society from 1830, holding the...

. The following year, Meisner published what was purportedly a distinct species, Dryandra runcinata. 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 :...

 maintained D. runcinata, but demoted D. ferruginea to a variety of Banksia proteoides

Banksia proteoides

Banksia proteoides, commonly known as King Dryandra, is a shrub endemic to Western Australia. It was known as Dryandra proteoides until 2007, when all Dryandra species were transferred to Banksia by Austin Mast and Kevin Thiele....

(King Dryandra). This stood until 1996, when Alex George

Alex George

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

 restored the specific rank of D. ferruginea, and declared D. runcinata its synonym.

In 2007, 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...

. As the name Banksia ferruginea had already been published in reference to the plant now known as Pimelea ferruginea

Pimelea ferruginea

Pimelea ferruginea is a small shrub native to southwest Western Australia. It was described by Labillardiere in 1805....

, Mast and Thiele had to choose a new specific epithet; their choice, "rufa", is from the Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 rufus ("reddish"), in references to the red-brown colour of new growth and the involucral bracts.

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