Banksia biterax is a species of dense shrub that is endemic to Western Australia. It has hairy stems, deeply serrated leaves and spikes of up to 200 pale to dark brown flowers.
| Banksia biterax | |
|---|---|
| On Mount Clarence, in Albany | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Order: | Proteales |
| Family: | Proteaceae |
| Genus: | Banksia |
| Subgenus: | Banksia subg. Banksia |
| Series: | Banksia ser. Dryandra |
| Species: | B. biterax |
| Binomial name | |
| Banksia biterax | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
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Banksia biterax is a dense, rounded, bushy shrub that typically grows to a height of 1–2.5 m (3 ft 3 in – 8 ft 2 in) and has hairy stems but does not form a lignotuber. Its leaves are linear in outline, 150–350 mm (5.9–13.8 in) long and 4–6 mm (0.16–0.24 in) on a petiole up to 1.5 mm (0.059 in) long. The leaves are serrated to the midvein, with 60 to 110 triangular lobes and are woolly-hairy on the lower surface. The flower spikes are borne on short side branches and have between 150 and 200 pale to dark brown flowers each with a perianth 25–27 mm (0.98–1.06 in) long and a cream-coloured pistil 28–30 mm (1.1–1.2 in) long. Flowering occurs from May or July to October and the fruit is an egg-shaped follicle about 15 mm (0.59 in) long.[2][3]
This species was first described in 1830 by Robert Brown in the supplement to his Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen and was given the name Dryandra baxteri.[4][5] In 2007 Austin Mast and Kevin Thiele transferred all the dryandras to the genus Banksia but as there was already a plant named Banksia baxteri, Mast and Thiele chose the specific epithet "biterax", an anagram of baxteri.[6][7][8]
Banksia biterax grows in kwongan and eucalyptus woodland near Busselton and between the Stirling Range and Albany.[3][2]
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