Banksia biterax

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 A.R.Mast & K.R.Thiele[1]
Synonyms[1]
Dryandra baxteri R.Br. Josephia baxteri (R.Br.) Kentze

Habit in Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve

Flower buds

Description

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]

Taxonomy and naming

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]

Distribution and habitat

Banksia biterax grows in kwongan and eucalyptus woodland near Busselton and between the Stirling Range and Albany.^[3][2]