Banksia ser. Spicigerae is a taxonomic

Taxonomy

Taxonomy is the science of identifying and naming species, and arranging them into a classification. The field of taxonomy, sometimes referred to as "biological taxonomy", revolves around the description and use of taxonomic units, known as taxa...

 series in the 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 consists of the seven species in section Oncostylis

Banksia sect. Oncostylis

Banksia sect. Oncostylis is one of four sections of subgenus Banksia subg. Banksia. It contains those Banksia species with hooked pistils. All of the species in Oncostylis also exhibit a top-down sequence of flower anthesis, except for Banksia nutans which is bottom-up.Banksia sect...

 that have cylindrical

Cylinder (geometry)

A cylinder is one of the most basic curvilinear geometric shapes, the surface formed by the points at a fixed distance from a given line segment, the axis of the cylinder. The solid enclosed by this surface and by two planes perpendicular to the axis is also called a cylinder...

 inflorescences. These range in form from small 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...

s to tall tree

Tree

A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...

s. The leaves

Leaf

A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....

 grow in either an alternate or whorled

Whorl (botany)

In botany, a whorl is an arrangement of sepals, petals, leaves, or branches in which all the parts are attached at the same point and surround or wrap around the stem.There are four whorls in a general flower...

 pattern, with various shape forms. The Spicigerae inflorescence is held erect, subtended by a whorl of branchlets, and retains a regular pattern until anthesis

Anthesis

Anthesis is the period during which a flower is fully open and functional. It may also refer to the onset of that period.The onset of anthesis is spectacular in some species. In Banksia species, for example, anthesis involves the extension of the style far beyond the upper perianth parts...

. The perianth limb is horizontal until anthesis

Anthesis

Anthesis is the period during which a flower is fully open and functional. It may also refer to the onset of that period.The onset of anthesis is spectacular in some species. In Banksia species, for example, anthesis involves the extension of the style far beyond the upper perianth parts...

, at which point the perianth

Perianth

The term perianth has two similar but separate meanings in botany:* In flowering plants, the perianth are the outer, sterile whorls of a flower...

 opens from underneath. The pollen

Pollen

Pollen is a fine to coarse powder containing the microgametophytes of seed plants, which produce the male gametes . Pollen grains have a hard coat that protects the sperm cells during the process of their movement from the stamens to the pistil of flowering plants or from the male cone to the...

-presenter is ovoid

Oval

An oval is any curve resembling an egg or an ellipse, such as a Cassini oval. The term does not have a precise mathematical definition except in one area oval , but it may also refer to:* A sporting arena of oval shape** a cricket field...

 or conical

Cone (geometry)

A cone is an n-dimensional geometric shape that tapers smoothly from a base to a point called the apex or vertex. Formally, it is the solid figure formed by the locus of all straight line segments that join the apex to the base...

. The seed wings are not notched.

Taxa

Five of the Spicigerae are endemic to southwest

Southwest Australia

Southwest Australia is a biodiversity hotspot that includes the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub ecoregions of Western Australia. The region has a wet-winter, dry-summer Mediterranean climate, one of five such regions in the world...

 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...

. The other two, Banksia ericifolia

Banksia ericifolia

Banksia ericifolia, the Heath-leaved Banksia , is a species of woody shrub of the Proteaceae family native to Australia. It grows in two separate regions of Central and Northern New South Wales east of the Great Dividing Range...

(Heath-leaved Banksia) and Banksia spinulosa

Banksia spinulosa

The Hairpin Banksia is a species of woody shrub, of the genus Banksia in the Proteaceae family, native to eastern Australia. Widely distributed, it is found as an understorey plant in open dry forest or heathland from Victoria to northern Queensland, generally on sandstone though sometimes also...

(Hairpin Banksia), are endemic to the east coast of Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. It is therefore thought to be the oldest of the series, having developed before the onset of aridity in the Nullarbor Plain

Nullarbor Plain

The Nullarbor Plain is part of the area of flat, almost treeless, arid or semi-arid country of southern Australia, located on the Great Australian Bight coast with the Great Victoria Desert to its north. It is the world's largest single piece of limestone, and occupies an area of about...

.

Species and subspecies

• B. spinulosa
  Banksia spinulosa
  The Hairpin Banksia is a species of woody shrub, of the genus Banksia in the Proteaceae family, native to eastern Australia. Widely distributed, it is found as an understorey plant in open dry forest or heathland from Victoria to northern Queensland, generally on sandstone though sometimes also...
  
  comprising:
  • B. s. var. collina
    Banksia spinulosa var. collina
    Banksia spinulosa var. collina is a shrub that grows along the east coast of Australia, in Queensland and New South Wales. Commonly known as Hill Banksia or Golden Candlesticks, it is a taxonomic variety of B. spinulosa...
    
    
  • B. s. var. cunninghamii
    Banksia spinulosa var. cunninghamii
    Banksia spinulosa var. cunninghamii, sometimes given species rank as Banksia cunninghamii, is a shrub that grows along the east coast of Australia, in Victoria and New South Wales...
    
    
  • B. s. var. neoanglica
    Banksia spinulosa var. neoanglica
    Banksia spinulosa var. neoanglica, commonly known as New England Banksia, is a shrub that grows along the east coast of Australia, in Queensland and New South Wales.-Description:...
    
    
  • B. s. var. spinulosa
    Banksia spinulosa var. spinulosa
    Banksia spinulosa var. spinulosa is a shrub that grows along the east coast of Australia, in Queensland and New South Wales.-Description:...
    
    
• B. ericifolia
  Banksia ericifolia
  Banksia ericifolia, the Heath-leaved Banksia , is a species of woody shrub of the Proteaceae family native to Australia. It grows in two separate regions of Central and Northern New South Wales east of the Great Dividing Range...
  
  comprising:
  • B. e. var. ericifolia
  • B. e. var. macrantha
• B. verticillata
  Banksia verticillata
  Banksia verticillata, commonly known as Granite Banksia or Albany Banksia, is a species of shrub or tree of the genus Banksia in the Proteaceae family. It is native to the southwest of Western Australia and can reach up to 3 m in height. It can grow taller to 5 m in sheltered areas,...
  
  
• B. seminuda
  Banksia seminuda
  Banksia seminuda, commonly known as the River Banksia, is a tree in the plant genus Banksia. It is found in south west Western Australia from Dwellingup to the Broke Inlet east of Denmark . It is often mistaken for and was originally considered a subspecies of the Banksia littoralis...
  
  
• B. littoralis
  Banksia littoralis
  Banksia littoralis, commonly known as the Swamp Banksia, Swamp Oak, Pungura and the Western Swamp Banksia, is a tree in the plant genus Banksia. It is found in south west Western Australia from the south eastern metropolitan area of Perth to the Stirling Range and Albany...
  
  
• B. occidentalis
  Banksia occidentalis
  The Red Swamp Banksia or Waterbush is a species of shrub or small tree in the plant genus Banksia. It occurs on the south coast of Western Australia in three disjunct populations: at Augusta, around Albany and in the Esperance area.A 1980 field study at Cheyne beach showed it to be pollinated by...
  
  
• B. brownii
  Banksia brownii
  Banksia brownii, commonly known as Feather-leaved Banksia or Brown's Banksia, is a species of shrub that occurs in southwest Western Australia. An attractive plant with fine feathery leaves and large red-brown flower spikes, it usually grows as an upright bush around two metres high, but can also...