Banksia wonganensis
Encyclopedia
Banksia wonganensis is a large shrub
endemic to Western Australia
that, until 2007, was previously known as Dryandra wonganensis. It occurs within a small area in the vicinity of Wongan Hills
. It grows on lateritic
soils in open woodland or amongst dense shrub. It is rare, but does not appear to be endangered.
. Leaves are four to 16 centimetres long, and nine to 18 millimetres wide, and pinnatifid, with four to nine triangular lobes on each side, before tapering to a fine point. They are often strongly curved. Flowers are bright yellow, and occur in heads of 45 to 50 flowers, up to 3.5 centimetres across. Each flower consists of a tubular perianth
made up of four fused tepal
s, and one long wiry style; the head of the style is initially trapped inside the upper perianth parts, but breaks free at anthesis
. After flowering, follicles develop in the woody base of the flower head, each containing one or sometimes two seeds.
at Wongan Hills in October 1903, by Norm Moyle in Monk Well Gully, Wongan Hills, by Fred Lullfitz northwest of Wongan Hills, and by Kenneth Newbey
in the Wongan Hills. In 1985 these specimens were wrongly attributed to Dryandra hewardiana (now Banksia hewardiana
) by Robert Malcolm Sainsbury in his Field Guide to Dryandras, but it was later recognised as a distinct species, and referred to in FloraBase
as Dryandra sp. 25. The type specimen was collected by Alex George
on 4 August 1986, from a location on Piawaning Road north-west of Wongan Hills. George published a formal description of the species in 1996 in Nuytsia
10(3). He placed it in the genus Dryandra
, subgenus Dryandra, series Armatae, and gave it the specific epithet "wonganensis" from "wongan", after the Wongan Hills where it is found, and the Latin "ensis" (origin or place). Thus its full name was Dryandra wonganensis A.S.George.
Early in 2007, Austin Mast
and Kevin Thiele
transferred all Dryandra taxa to Banksia. The current name for this species is therefore Banksia wonganensis (A.S.George) A.R.Mast & K.R.Thiele. As an interim measure, Mast and Thiele placed all but one Dryandra taxon in Banksia ser. Dryandra.
B. wonganensis occurs only in the Wongan Hills
and on surrounding rises, in the Avon Wheatbelt
biogeographic
region. The location has lateritic
soils covered by open woodland or dense scrub. Mean annual rainfall is 350 to 400 millimetres, with a mean temperature range of 11.1–24.3°C, and up to 80 days above 30°C.
, B. wonganensis has proteoid root
s, roots with dense clusters of short lateral rootlets that form a mat in the soil just below the leaf litter. These enhance solubilisation of nutrients, thus allowing nutrient uptake in low-nutrient soils such as the phosphorus
-deficient native soils of Australia. It lacks a lignotuber, so is killed by bushfire. However it is adapted to release its seed following a fire, so populations regenerate rapidly.
It has been given a rating of "Priority Four - Poorly Known Taxa" on Western Australia's Department of Environment and Conservation's Declared Rare and Priority Flora List, meaning that it has been adequately surveyed, and is be rare, but is apparently not threatened.
rate its foliage as attractive and its flowers as showy, and state that it is just as attractive as many other large shrubs in its series. The species prefer heavy soils with good drainiage, and tolerates full sun or light shade. It has good tolerance for both drought and frost. Germination of seed appears to have a success rate of only about 50%; germination is rapid, often taking less than four weeks.
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...
that, until 2007, was previously known as Dryandra wonganensis. It occurs within a small area in the vicinity of Wongan Hills
Wongan Hills
Wongan Hills is a range of low flat-topped hills in the Avon Wheatbelt biogeographic region of Western Australia. It is located at , in northern parts of the Avon Wheatbelt biogeographic region....
. It grows on 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...
soils in open woodland or amongst dense shrub. It is rare, but does not appear to be endangered.
Description
It is a sprawling or erect shrub, up to three metres high, without a lignotuberLignotuber
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...
. Leaves are four to 16 centimetres long, and nine to 18 millimetres wide, and pinnatifid, with four to nine triangular lobes on each side, before tapering to a fine point. They are often strongly curved. Flowers are bright yellow, and occur in heads of 45 to 50 flowers, up to 3.5 centimetres across. Each flower consists of a tubular 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...
made up of four fused tepal
Tepal
Tepals are elements of the perianth, or outer part of a flower, which include the petals or sepals. The term tepal is more often applied specifically when all segments of the perianth are of similar shape and color, or undifferentiated, which is called perigone...
s, and one long wiry style; the head of the style is initially trapped inside the upper perianth parts, but breaks free at 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...
. After flowering, follicles develop in the woody base of the flower head, each containing one or sometimes two seeds.
Taxonomy
Early collections of B. wonganensis include specimens collected by Alexander MorrisonAlexander Morrison (botanist)
Alexander Morrison was the first Government Botanist of Western Australia.Born in Western Dalmeny, Scotland, he began a medicine degree at Edinburgh, but suffered from ill health, prompting him to break his studies and visit Australia. He spent two years in Melbourne before returning to Edinburgh...
at Wongan Hills in October 1903, by Norm Moyle in Monk Well Gully, Wongan Hills, by Fred Lullfitz northwest of Wongan Hills, and by Kenneth Newbey
Kenneth Newbey
Kenneth Raymond Newbey was a plant ecologist, botanical collector and horticulturist. Born in Katanning, Western Australia, he collected over 12000 specimens, from the Albany-Esperance, wheatbelt, goldfields and Pilbara regions of Western Australia...
in the Wongan Hills. In 1985 these specimens were wrongly attributed to Dryandra hewardiana (now Banksia hewardiana
Banksia hewardiana
Banksia hewardiana is a shrub endemic to Western Australia. It was first published as Dryandra hewardiana by Carl Meissner in 1856. In 1870, George Bentham published what he held to be a closely related species under the name Dryandra patens, but in 1999 Alex George declared this a synonym of...
) by Robert Malcolm Sainsbury in his Field Guide to Dryandras, but it was later recognised as a distinct species, and referred to in FloraBase
FloraBase
FloraBase is a public access web-based database of the flora of Western Australia. It provides authoritative scientific information on 12,978 taxa, including descriptions, maps, images, conservation status and nomenclatural details...
as Dryandra sp. 25. The type specimen was collected by Alex George
Alex George
Alexander Segger George is a Western Australian botanist. He is the authority on the plant genera Banksia and Dryandra...
on 4 August 1986, from a location on Piawaning Road north-west of Wongan Hills. George published a formal description of the species in 1996 in Nuytsia
Nuytsia (journal)
Nuytsia is a peer-reviewed journal published by the Western Australian Herbarium. It publishes papers on systematic botany, giving preference to papers related to the flora of Western Australia. Nearly twenty percent of Western Australia's plant taxa have been published in Nuytsia. First published...
10(3). He placed it in the genus Dryandra
Dryandra
Banksia ser. Dryandra is a series of 94 species of shrub to small tree in the plant genus Banksia. It was considered a separate genus named Dryandra until early 2007, when it was merged into Banksia on the basis of extensive molecular and morphological evidence that Banksia was paraphyletic with...
, subgenus Dryandra, series Armatae, and gave it the specific epithet "wonganensis" from "wongan", after the Wongan Hills where it is found, and the Latin "ensis" (origin or place). Thus its full name was Dryandra wonganensis A.S.George.
Early in 2007, 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...
transferred all Dryandra taxa to Banksia. The current name for this species is therefore Banksia wonganensis (A.S.George) A.R.Mast & K.R.Thiele. As an interim measure, Mast and Thiele placed all but one Dryandra taxon in Banksia ser. Dryandra.
Distribution and habitat
Wongan Hills
Wongan Hills is a range of low flat-topped hills in the Avon Wheatbelt biogeographic region of Western Australia. It is located at , in northern parts of the Avon Wheatbelt biogeographic region....
and on surrounding rises, 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:...
biogeographic
Biogeography
Biogeography is the study of the distribution of species , organisms, and ecosystems in space and through geological time. Organisms and biological communities vary in a highly regular fashion along geographic gradients of latitude, elevation, isolation and habitat area...
region. The location has 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...
soils covered by open woodland or dense scrub. Mean annual rainfall is 350 to 400 millimetres, with a mean temperature range of 11.1–24.3°C, and up to 80 days above 30°C.
Ecology
Like most other ProteaceaeProteaceae
Proteaceae is a family of flowering plants distributed in the Southern Hemisphere. The family comprises about 80 genera with about 1600 species. Together with the Platanaceae and Nelumbonaceae they make up the order Proteales. Well known genera include Protea, Banksia, Embothrium, Grevillea,...
, B. wonganensis has proteoid root
Proteoid root
Proteoid roots, also known as cluster roots, are plant roots that form clusters of closely spaced short lateral rootlets. They may form a two to five centimetre thick mat just beneath the leaf litter. They enhance nutrient uptake, possibly by chemically modifying the soil environment to improve...
s, roots with dense clusters of short lateral rootlets that form a mat in the soil just below the leaf litter. These enhance solubilisation of nutrients, thus allowing nutrient uptake in low-nutrient soils such as the phosphorus
Phosphorus
Phosphorus is the chemical element that has the symbol P and atomic number 15. A multivalent nonmetal of the nitrogen group, phosphorus as a mineral is almost always present in its maximally oxidized state, as inorganic phosphate rocks...
-deficient native soils of Australia. It lacks a lignotuber, so is killed by bushfire. However it is adapted to release its seed following a fire, so populations regenerate rapidly.
It has been given a rating of "Priority Four - Poorly Known Taxa" on Western Australia's Department of Environment and Conservation's Declared Rare and Priority Flora List, meaning that it has been adequately surveyed, and is be rare, but is apparently not threatened.
Cultivation
The species is little known in cultivation. Tony Cavanagh and Margaret PieroniMargaret Pieroni
Margaret Pieroni is a Western Australian botanical artist and botanist who has authored, co-authored and/or illustrated numerous books on Australian botany, including Brush with Gondwana: Botanical Artists Group of Western Australia , The Dryandras , Verticordia: the turner of hearts , Discovering...
rate its foliage as attractive and its flowers as showy, and state that it is just as attractive as many other large shrubs in its series. The species prefer heavy soils with good drainiage, and tolerates full sun or light shade. It has good tolerance for both drought and frost. Germination of seed appears to have a success rate of only about 50%; germination is rapid, often taking less than four weeks.