Banksia baxteri

Banksia baxteri is an erect shrub that typically groups to a height of {{cvt|1–5|m}} and that does not form a lignotuber. The branchlets and leaves are densely covered with woolly, white hairs when young. The leaves are wedge-shaped, {{cvt|70–170|mm}} long and {{cvt|25–75|mm}} wide in outline on a petiole {{cvt|5–15|mm}} long, divided to the midlobe with between four and seven triangular lobes on each side surrounded by V-shaped spaces. The flowers are arranged in a broad oval inflorescence {{cvt|75–86|mm}} wide on the ends of branches, the individual flowers lemon-yellow with a perianth {{cvt|39–43|mm}} long and the pistil {{cvt|42–49|mm}} long. Flowering occurs from December to May but mainly from January to March. Only a few follicles {{cvt|35–42|mm}} long, {{cvt|17–22|mm}} high and {{cvt|15–20|mm}} wide develop surrounded by the old flowers.{{cite book |last1=George |first1=Alex S. |title=Flora of Australia |volume=17B |date=1999 |publisher=Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra |location=Canberra |page=200 |url=https://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/pages/6d8c5c3b-8545-437e-b9b3-944ac95ee07a/files/flora-australia-17b-proteaceae-3-hakea-dryandra.pdf |access-date=2 April 2020}}{{cite journal |last1=George |first1=Alex S. |title=The genus Banksia L.f. (Proteaceae) |journal=Nuytsia |date=1981 |volume=3 |issue=3 |pages=330–333 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/223763#page/96/mode/1up |access-date=2 April 2020}}{{FloraBase|name=Banksia baxteri|id=1803}}

Banksia baxteri was first formally described in 1830 by Robert Brown in the supplement to his Prodromus. The type specimens were collected by William Baxter in the mountains near King George Sound in 1829.{{cite web|title=Banksia baxteri|url= https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/536635 |publisher=APNI|access-date=2 April 2020}}{{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Robert |title=Supplementum primum prodromi florae Novae Hollandiae: Proteaceas Novas. |date=1830 |publisher=Typis Ricardi Taylor |location=London |page=36 |url=https://bibdigital.rjb.csic.es/viewer/10917/?offset=#page=36&viewer=picture&o=bookmark&n=0&q= |access-date=2 April 2020}}

In 1891, Otto Kuntze, in his Revisio Generum Plantarum, rejected the generic name Banksia L.f., on the grounds that the name Banksia had previously been published in 1776 as Banksia J.R.Forst & G.Forst, referring to the genus now known as Pimelea. Kuntze proposed Sirmuellera as an alternative, referring to this species as Sirmuellera baxteri.{{cite book |last=Kuntze |first=Otto |authorlink=Otto Kuntze |title=Revisio generum plantarum |volume=2 |publisher=Arthur Felix |location=Leipzig |year=1891 |pages=581–582 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/4004}} This application of the principle of priority was largely ignored by Kuntze's contemporaries,{{cite journal |last1=Rehder |first1=A. |authorlink1=Alfred Rehder |last2=Weatherby |first2=C. A. |authorlink2=Charles Alfred Weatherby |last3=Mansfeld |first3=R. |authorlink3=Rudolf Mansfeld |last4=Green |first4=M. L. |authorlink4=Mary Letitia Green |title=Conservation of Later Generic Homonyms |journal=Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information (Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew) |year=1935 |volume=1935 |issue=6/9 |page=368 |doi=10.2307/4107078 |jstor=4107078}} and Banksia L.f. was formally conserved and Sirmuellera rejected in 1940.{{cite journal |last=Sprague |first=T. A. |authorlink=Thomas Archibald Sprague |title=Additional Nomina Generica Conservanda (Pteridophyta and Phanerogamae) |journal=Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew |year=1940 |volume=1940 |issue=3 |doi=10.2307/4111642 |jstor=4111642 |page=99}}

Baxter's banksia grows with other shrubs such as Lambertia inermis, usually in deep sand and mostly occurs within {{cvt|50|km}} of the coast between East Mount Barren and Israelite Bay.

This banksia is classified as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.

A 1980 field study at Cheyne Beach showed it to be pollinated by the New Holland honeyeater and white-cheeked honeyeater.{{cite journal|doi= 10.1071/BT9800061|title= Bird and Mammal Pollen Vectors in Banksia Communities at Cheyne Beach, Western Australia|last1=Hopper | first1=Stephen D.|author-link1=Stephen Hopper|journal= Australian Journal of Botany |volume=28|issue=1|pages=61–75|year=1980}}

Banksia baxteri is serotinous, that is, it has an aerial seed bank in its canopy in the form of the follicles of the old flower spikes. These are opened with fire and release seed in large numbers, which germinate and grow after rain. Seed can last for many years; old spikes 9 to 12 years old have been found to have seed that remains 100% viable.{{cite journal|first1=Byron B. |last1=Lamont | author-link1=Byron Lamont | first2=D. C. |last2=Le Maitre |first3=R. M. |last3=Cowling |first4=N. J. |last4=Enright|year=1991|title=Canopy seed storage in woody plants|journal=The Botanical Review|volume=57|issue=4|pages= 277–317|doi=10.1007/BF02858770|s2cid=37245625 }}

Seeds do not require any treatment, and take 21 to 42 days to germinate.{{cite book | editor-last1=Sweedman | editor-first1=Luke | editor-last2=Merritt | editor-first2=David | year = 2006 | title = Australian seeds: a guide to their collection, identification and biology | url=https://archive.org/details/australianseedsg00auth | url-access=limited | publisher = CSIRO Publishing | isbn = 0-643-09298-6 | page = [https://archive.org/details/australianseedsg00auth/page/n218 202]}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{The Banksia Atlas}}

{{Wikisource|Flora Australiensis/Volume V/CIV. Proteaceae/28. Banksia#Banksia Baxteri|Flora Australiensis/Volume V/CIV. Proteaceae/28. Banksia#Banksia Baxteri}}

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baxteri

Category:Eudicots of Western Australia

Category:Plants described in 1830

Category:Endemic flora of Western Australia

Category:Taxa named by Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773)