Banksia prionotes
| Acorn Banksia | |
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| Banksia prionotes, Reabold Hill, Bold Park Floreat, WA | |
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| Species: | B. prionotes
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| Banksia prionotes | |
Banksia prionotes, commonly known as Acorn Banksia or Orange Banksia, is a species of tree in the genus Banksia in the Proteaceae family native to Western Australia. Widely distributed, it is found from southeast of Perth to Shark Bay, generally on on sandy soils in low scrubland or heathland where it is the dominant plant.
It was described in 1839 by John Lindley from material collected by James Drummond in the vicinity of the Swan River that same year.[1]
The Acorn Banksia is pollinated by and provides food for a wide array of vertebrate and invertebrate animals in the autumn and winter months. It has been widely used as a street tree and amenities planting in Perth, though its large size precludes use in small gardens. A dwarf form has been released which has considerable horticultural potential.
Description
It can be a tree to 10 metres or lower spreading 1-3 metre shrub (typically in the more northern area of its range). Banksia prionotes is killed by fire and regenerates from seed. It has a smooth grey trunk and serrated green leaves to 27 cm long and 1-2 cm wide. Flowering is terminal although leaves can obscure the inflorescences. Flowering is in autumn - the striking spikes are up to 15 cm high and begin as cream or white buds before opening to a bright or pale orange. Old flowers soon fall, leaving bare cones which can have up to 60 follicles.
Taxonomy
B. prionotes was first published by John Lindley in the January 1840 issue of his A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony; hence the species' full name is Banksia prionotes Lindl..[2] Lindley did not specify the type material upon which he based the species, but A Sketch is based primarily upon the collections of James Drummond.[3] A B. prionotes sheet from the University of Cambridge Herbarium, labelled "Swan River, Drummond, 1839", has since been designated the lectotype.[1] Lindley also made no mention of the etymology of the specific epithet "prionotes"; George has confirmed the obvious, however: it is from the Greek prion ("saw") and -otes ("quality"), in reference to the serrated leaf margins.[4]
The species has had a fairly uneventful taxonomic history. No subspecies or variety have been published, and it has no taxonomic synonyms. Its only nomenclatural synonym is Sirmuellera prionotes (Lindl.) Kuntze, which arose from Otto Kuntze's unsuccessful 1891 attempt to transfer Banksia into the new name Sirmuellera.[2][5]
When Carl Meissner published his infrageneric arrangement of Banksia in 1856, he placed B. prionotes in B. sect. Eubanksia because its inflorescence is a spike rather than a domed head, and in series Salicinae,[6] a large series that is now considered quite heterogeneous.[1] This series was discarded in the 1870 arrangement of George Bentham; instead, B. prionotes was placed in section Orthostylis, which Bentham defined as consisting of those Banksia species having flat leaves with serrated margins and rigid, erect styles that "give the cones after the flowers have opened a different aspect".[7]
In 1981, Alex George published a revision arrangement that placed B. prionotes in B. subg. Banksia because of its flower spike, sect. Banksia because its styles are straight rather than hooked, and ser. Crocinae, a new series of consisting of four closely related species, all with bright orange perianths and pistils.[1]
George's arrangement remained current until 1996, when Kevin Thiele and Pauline Ladiges published an arrangement informed by a cladistic analysis of morphological characteristics. Their arrangement maintained B. prionotes in subgenus Banksia, but discarded George's sections and his series Crocinae. Instead, B. prionotes was placed at the end of ser. Banksia, subser. Cratistylis.[8]
In 1999, George overturned Thiele and Ladiges' arrangement, publishing a slightly modified version of his 1981 arrangement in his treatment of Banksia for the Flora of Australia series of monographs. To date, this remains the most recent, and therefore current, arrangement. The placement of B. prionotes in this arrangement may be summarised as follows:[9]
- Genus Banksia
- Subgenus Isostylis
- Subgenus Banksia
- Section Oncostylis
- Section Coccinea
- Section Banksia
- Series Grandes
- Series Banksia
- Series Crocinae
- B. prionotes - B. burdettii - B. hookeriana - B. victoriae
- Series Prostratae
- Series Cyrtostylis
- Series Tetragonae
- Series Bauerinae
- Series Quercinae
- Series Salicinae
Since 1998, Austin Mast has been publishing results of ongoing cladistic analyses of DNA sequence data for the subtribe Banksiinae, which is comprised of Banksia and Dryandra. With respect to B. prionotes, Mast's results are fairly consistent with those of both George and Thiele and Ladiges. Series Crocinae appears to be monophyletic, and B. hookeriana is confirmed as B. prionotes' closest relative. Overall, however, the inferred phylogeny is greatly different from George's arrangement, and provides compelling evidence for the paraphyly of Banksia with respect to Dryandra.[10][11][12] Early in 2007, Mast and Thiele initiated a rearrangement of Banksia by transferring Dryandra into it, and publishing B. subg. Spathulatae for the species having spoon-shaped cotyledons; in this way they also redefined the autonym B. subg. Banksia. They foreshadowed publishing a full arrangement once DNA sampling of Dryandra was complete; in the meantime, if Mast and Thiele's nomenclatural changes are taken as an interim arrangement, then B. prionotes is placed in subgenus Banksia.[13]
Hybrids
A number of presumed natural hybrids have been identified. During data collection for The Banksia Atlas project, a single presumed hybrid between B. prionotes and B. lindleyana (Porcupine Banksia), with fruit like B. lindleyana but leaves intermediate between the two parents, was found north of Kalbarri National Park. At the time this was considered an important discovery, as the two parents were then thought to be not closely related.[14] Mast's analyses, however, place the two parents in a clade of eight species.[11]
Presumed hybrids with B. hookeriana (Hooker's Banksia) and B. menziesii (Firewood Banksia) have also been recorded.[14]
Distribution and habitat
It is widespread and locally common through much of the Southwest Botanical Province, occurring from Shark Bay in the north, south as far as Perth in coastal areas. Inland population extend further still, with populations as far south as Kojonup and as far east as Jerramungup. It grows amongst tall shrubland or low woodland, and shows a very strong preference for deep white or yellow sand, virtually never being found in heavier soils.[15][9][14]
Cultivation
The plant is fairly easy to grow in a mediterranean climate with good drainage and a light (sandy) soil, however it is sensitive to dieback, so will be unreliable in conditions with summer humidity or poor drainage. However, it has been grafted successfully onto Banksia integrifolia, which is highly adaptable to a wide range of soil types and conditions and resistant to dieback.
References
- ^ a b c d George, Alex S. (1981). "The Genus Banksia L.f. (Proteaceae)". Nuytsia. 3 (3): 239–473.
- ^ a b "Banksia prionotes Lindl". Australian Plant Name Index (APNI), IBIS database. Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Government.
- ^ Lindley, John (1839). "A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony". Appendix to the first twenty-three volumes of Edwards's Botanical Register. London: James Ridgeway.
- ^ George, Alex S. (1987). The Banksia Book (Second Edition). Kenthurst, New South Wales: Kangaroo Press (in association with the Society for Growing Australian Plants). ISBN 0-86417-006-8.
- ^ "Sirmuellera prionotes (Lindl.) Kuntze". Australian Plant Name Index (APNI), IBIS database. Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Government.
- ^ Meissner, Carl (1856). "Proteaceae". In de Candolle, A. P. (ed.). Prodromus systematis naturalis regni vegetabilis. Vol. 14. Paris: Sumptibus Sociorum Treuttel et Wurtz.
- ^ Bentham, George (1870). "Banksia". Flora Australiensis. Vol. Volume 5: Myoporineae to Proteaceae. London: L. Reeve & Co. pp. 541–562.
{{cite encyclopedia}}:|volume=has extra text (help) - ^ Thiele, Kevin (1996). "A Cladistic Analysis of Banksia (Proteaceae)". Australian Systematic Botany. 9 (5): 661–733. doi:10.1071/SB9960661.
{{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ a b George, Alex S. (1999). "Banksia". In Wilson, Annette (ed.) (ed.). Flora of Australia. Vol. Volume 17B: Proteaceae 3: Hakea to Dryandra. Collingwood, Victoria: CSIRO Publishing / Australian Biological Resources Study. pp. 175–251. ISBN 0-643-06454-0.
{{cite encyclopedia}}:|editor=has generic name (help);|volume=has extra text (help) - ^ Mast, Austin R. (1998). "Molecular systematics of subtribe Banksiinae (Banksia and Dryandra; Proteaceae) based on cpDNA and nrDNA sequence data: implications for taxonomy and biogeography". Australian Systematic Botany. 11: 321–342. doi:10.1071/SB97026.
- ^ a b Mast, Austin (2002). "Historical biogeography and the origin of stomatal distributions in Banksia and Dryandra (Proteaceae) based on Their cpDNA phylogeny". American Journal of Botany. 89 (8): 1311–1323. ISSN 0002-9122. Retrieved 2006-07-02.
{{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ Mast, Austin (2005). "An assessment of old and new DNA sequence evidence for the paraphyly of Banksia with respect to Dryandra (Proteaceae)". Australian Systematic Botany. 18 (1). CSIRO Publishing / Australian Systematic Botany Society: 75–88. doi:10.1071/SB04015.
{{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ Mast, Austin (2007). "The transfer of Dryandra R.Br. to Banksia L.f. (Proteaceae)". Australian Systematic Botany. 20: 63–71. doi:10.1071/SB06016.
{{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter|coauthor=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ a b c Taylor, Anne; Hopper, Stephen (1988). The Banksia Atlas (Australian Flora and Fauna Series Number 8). Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service. ISBN 0-644-07124-9.
- ^ "Banksia prionotes Lindl". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
External links
- "Banksia prionotes Lindl". Flora of Australia Online. Department of the Environment and Heritage, Australian Government.
- "Banksia prionotes Lindl". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
- "Banksia prionotes Lindl". Australian Plant Name Index (APNI), IBIS database. Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Government.