Banksia coccinea

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Scarlet Banksia

Flower spike of B.coccinea
Banksia Farm, Mt Barker WA

Conservation status

Secure

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Proteales
Family:	Proteaceae
Genus:	Banksia
Subgenus:	Banksia subg. Banksia
Section:	**Banksia sect. Coccinea** (A.S.George) T.L.Maquire, Sedgley & Conran
Species:	B. coccinea

Binomial name

Banksia coccinea
R.Br

Banksia coccinea, commonly known as the Scarlet Banksia, Waratah Banksia or Albany Banksia, is an erect shrub in the plant genus Banksia. Endemic to south west Western Australia, it occurs from Albany east to the Young River, and north to the Stirling Range.

The Scarlet Banksia grows as an erect shrub or small tree up to eight metres tall. Its leaves are flat, from three to nine centimetres long, flat, with large sharp teeth.

Although all Banksia species have flowers arranged spirally around the flower spike axis, in some species there is a vertical alignment superimposed on it. In Banksia coccinea, this vertical alignment is strongly accentuated by large gaps between the columns. Furthermore, neighbouring columns of flowers lean in opposite directions, resulting in bright red vertical columns consisting of many crossing flower styles, alternating with large vertical gaps through which the light grey perianths can be seen. The end result is a flower spike with elegant vertical red and white stripes.

The Scarlet Banksia was first published by Robert Brown in 1810. Because of the unusual appearance of its flowers, it is placed in its own section, Banksia sect. Coccinea, of subgenus Banksia subg. Banksia. No subspecies are recognised.

An illustration of Banksia coccinea from Ferdinand Bauer's 1813 flora "Illustrationes Florae Novae Hollandiae"

[edit] References

George, A. S. (1981). "The Genus Banksia L.f. (Proteaceae)". Nuytsia 3 (3): 239–473.
George, A. S. (1999). "Banksia", in "Wilson, Annette (ed.): Flora of Australia: Volume 17B: Proteaceae 3: Hakea to Dryandra. CSIRO Publishing / Australian Biological Resources Study, 175–251. ISBN 0-643-06454-0.
Taylor, Anne and Hopper, Stephen D. (1988). The Banksia Atlas (Australian Flora and Fauna Series Number 8). Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service. ISBN 0-644-07124-9.