Feather-leaved banksia

Description

Banksia brownii, commonly known as feather-leaved banksia or Brown's banksia, is a species of shrub that grows in southwest Western Australia. A plant with fine feathery leaves and large red-brown flower spikes, it usually grows as an upright bush around two metres (7 ft) high, but can also occur as a small tree or a low spreading shrub. First collected in 1829 and published the following year, it is placed in Banksia subgenus Banksia, section Oncostylis, series Spicigerae. There are two genetically distinct forms. Banksia brownii occurs naturally only in two population clusters between Albany and the Stirling Range in southwest Western Australia. In the Stirling Range it occurs among heath on rocky mountain slopes; further south it occurs among jarrah woodland in shallow nutrient-poor sand. It has been evaluated as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN); all major populations care threatened by Phytophthora cinnamomi dieback, a disease to which the species is highly susceptible. Other threats include loss of habitat, commercial exploitation and changes to the fire regime. Highly valued by Australia's horticultural and cut flower industries, B. brownii is widely cultivated in areas not exposed to dieback. It prefers a sheltered position in soil with good drainage, and must be provided with some moisture over summer. Banksia brownii usually grows as an upright bush between one and three metres (3–10 ft) high, but it can also grow as an openly branched small tree to six metres (20 ft) in sheltered gullies, or as a low, spreading shrub in exposed locations such as the peaks of the Stirling Range. The bark is a grey-brown colour, smooth and thin, with lenticels. The leaves are long and thin, from three to ten centimetres (1–5 in) long, and five to ten millimetres (3⁄16–3⁄8 in) wide. Dark green and hairless above but with a hairy white underside, they are easily recognised by their feather-like appearance, caused by the fact that they are finely divided almost back to the midrib, into as many as 70 thin tapered lobes.