- Banksia violacea
image_caption =Inflorescence of "Banksia violacea"
regnum =Plantae
unranked_divisio =Angiosperms
unranked_classis =Eudicots
ordo =Proteales
familia =Proteaceae
genus = "Banksia "
species = "B. violacea"
binomial = "Banksia violacea"
binomial_authority = C.A.Gardner|"Banksia violacea", commonly known as Violet Banksia, is a species of small shrub in the
plant genus "Banksia ". Found in southern regions ofWestern Australia from Esperance in the east to Narrogin in the west, it is best known for its unusually coloured dark purple-violet inflorescences.Description
It grows as a shrub up to 1.5 metres tall, with narrow leaves, one to two centimetres long and about 1.5 millimetres wide. Flowers occur in typical "Banksia" "flower spikes",
inflorescence s make up of hundreds of pairs of flowers densely packed in a spiral around a woody axis. "B. violacea"'s flower spike is roughly spherical, with a diameter of two to three centimetres. Unusually for "Banksia" species, the inflorescences are often violet in colour, ranging anywhere from a dark violet-black through various combinations of violet and greenish-yellow in less pigmented blooms. Each flower consists of a tubularperianth made up of four fusedtepal s, and one long wiry style. The styles are hooked rather than straight, and are initially trapped inside the upper perianth parts, but break free atanthesis . The fruiting structure is a stout woody "cone", with a hairy appearance caused by the persistence of old withered flower parts.cite encyclopedia | first = A. S. | last = George | authorlink = Alex George | year = 1999 | chapter = "Banksia" | editor = Wilson, Annette | title = Flora of Australia | volume = 17B: Proteaceae 3: Hakea to Dryandra | pages = 175–251 | publisher =CSIRO Publishing /Australian Biological Resources Study | id = ISBN 0-643-06454-0] The follicles, when young are greenish in colour and covered in fine white hairs, fading to tan or grey with age.Taxonomy
Discovery and naming
The type specimen of "B. violacea" was collected by
Charles Gardner on14 December 1926 , in the vicinity ofLake Grace . The following year, he published a description of the species in "Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Western Australia ".cite journal | first = C. A. | last = Gardner | authorlink = Charles Gardner | year = 1927 | title = Contributiones florae Australiae occidentalis VI | journal =Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Western Australia | volume = 13 | pages = 61–68] He placed it in section "Oncostylis" ofBentham's taxonomic arrangement of Banksia , giving it the specific epithet "violacea" in reference to the violet flowers. Thus the full name of the species is "Banksia violacea" C.A.Gardner.APNI | name = "Banksia violacea" C.A.Gardner | id = 55744]William Blackall omitted the species from his 1954 "How to Know Western Australian Wildflowers ", instead including under "B. sphaerocarpa" (Fox Banksia) the text "Fls violet = var violacea".cite book | author = Blackall, W. E.; edited by B. J. Grieve | year = 1954 | title = [How to Know Western Australian Wildflowers| location = Nedlands | publisher =University of Western Australia Press ] This was an invalid publication, however, and a "nomen nudum " to boot. In 1981Alex George declared "Banksia sphaerocarpa" var. "violacea" Blackall a nomenclatural synonym of "B. violacea".The genus Banksia L.f. (Proteaceae)] APNI | name = "Banksia sphaerocarpa" var. "violacea" Blackall C.A.Gardner | id = 55744]Infrageneric placement
In George's 1981 arrangement, "B. violacea" was placed in subgenus "Banksia" because its inflorescence is a typical "Banksia" "flower spike"; section "Oncostylis" because of its hooked styles; and series "Abietinae" because its inflorescence is roughly spherical. It was placed in
phyletic order between "B. incana" (Hoary Banksia) and "B. meisneri" (Meissner's Banksia).In 1996,
Kevin Thiele and Pauline Ladiges published the results of a cladistic analysis of morphological characters of "Banksia". They retained George's subgenera and many of his series, but discarded his sections. "B." ser. "Abietinae" was found to be very nearly monophyletic, and so retained. It further resolved into four subclades, so Thiele and Ladiges split it into foursubseries . "B. violacea" appeared in the last of these:cite journal | author = Thiele, Kevin and Pauline Y. Ladiges | year = 1996 | title = A cladistic analysis of "Banksia" (Proteaceae) | journal =Australian Systematic Botany | volume = 9 | issue = 5 | pages = 661–733 | doi = 10.1071/SB9960661] Clade
1="B. violacea"
2=Clade
1=Clade
1="B. laricina"
2=Clade
1="B. incana"
2="B. tricuspis"
2=Clade
1="B. pulchella"
2=Clade
1="B. meisneri" var. "meisneri"
2="B. meisneri" var. "ascendans" This clade became the basis of "B." subser. "Longistyles", which Thiele defined as containing those taxa with very long and slender styles, and with smoothly convex perianth limbs without a costal ridge and with thickened margins. In accordance with their cladogram, their arrangement placed "B. violacea" first in phyletic order, followed by "B. laricina" (Rose-fruited Banksia).Thiele and Ladiges' arrangement was not accepted by George, and was largely discarded by him in his 1999 arrangement. "B." ser. "Abietinae" was restored to George's 1981 circumscription, and all of Thiele and Ladiges' subseries were abandoned. George commented that the species has no close relatives, being "loosely allied" to "B. sphaerocarpa" (Fox Banksia) and "B. telmatiaea" (Swamp Fox Banksia). Despite this, the phyletic ordering of the series was altered so that "B. violacea" fell between "B. scabrella" (Burma Road Banksia) and "B. incana".
"B. violacea"'s placement in George's arrangement may be summarised as follows::"
Banksia "::"B." subg. "Banksia":::"B." sect. "Banksia" (9 series, 50 species, 9 subspecies, 3 varieties):::"B." sect. "Coccinea" (1 species):::"B." sect. "Oncostylis"::::"B." ser. "Spicigerae" (7 species, 2 subspecies, 4 varieties)::::"B." ser. "Tricuspidae" (1 species)::::"B." ser. "Dryandroideae" (1 species)::::"B." ser. "Abietinae":::::"B. sphaerocarpa" (3 varieties):::::"B. micrantha":::::"B. grossa":::::"B. telmatiaea":::::"B. leptophylla" (2 varieties):::::"B. lanata":::::"B. scabrella":::::"B. violacea":::::"B. incana":::::"B. laricina":::::"B. pulchella":::::"B. meisneri" (2 subspecies):::::"B. nutans" (2 varieties)::"B." subg. "Isostylis" (3 species)Since 1998,
Austin Mast has been publishing results of ongoing cladistic analyses ofDNA sequence data for the subtribeBanksiinae . His analyses suggest a phylogeny that is very greatly different to George's arrangement, and someone different to Thiele and Ladiges'. With respect to "B. violacea", Mast's results agree with its placement near "B. laricina" and "B. incana", placing it in a clade with these two species and "B. dolichostyla" (alternately known as "B. sphaerocarpa" var. "dolichostyla"):clade
1="B. dolichostyla" (alternately known as "B. sphaerocarpa" var. "dolichostyla")
2="B. violacea"
3=clade
1="B. laricina"
2="B. incana" However, Thiele's "B." subser. "Longistyles" appears to be polyphyletic, as do both circumscriptions of "B." ser. "Abietinae".cite journal | author = Mast, Austin R. | year = 1998 | title = Molecular systematics of subtribe Banksiinae ("Banksia" and "Dryandra"; Proteaceae) based on cpDNA and nrDNA sequence data: implications for taxonomy and biogeography | journal = Australian Systematic Botany | volume = 11 | pages = 321–342 | doi = 10.1071/SB97026] cite journal | author = Mast, Austin R. and Thomas J. Givnish | year = 2002 | title = Historical biogeography and the origin of stomatal distributions in "Banksia" and "Dryandra" (Proteaceae) based on Their cpDNA phylogeny | journal =American Journal of Botany | volume = 89 | issue = 8 | pages = 1311–1323 | id = ISSN|0002-9122 | url = http://www.amjbot.org/cgi/content/full/89/8/1311 | accessdate=2006-07-02 | doi = 10.3732/ajb.89.8.1311] cite journal | author = Mast, Austin R., Eric H. Jones and Shawn P. Havery | year = 2005 | volume = 18 | issue = 1 | title = An assessment of old and new DNA sequence evidence for the paraphyly of "Banksia" with respect to "Dryandra" (Proteaceae) | journal = Australian Systematic Botany | pages = 75–88 | publisher = CSIRO Publishing / Australian Systematic Botany Society | doi = 10.1071/SB04015]Early in 2007, Mast and Thiele initiated a rearrangement of "Banksia" by merging "
Dryandra " into it, and publishing "B." subg. "Spathulatae" for the taxa having spoon-shapedcotyledon s. They foreshadowed publishing a full arrangement once DNA sampling of "Dryandra" was complete; in the meantime, if Mast and Thiele's nomenclatural changes are taken as an interim arrangement, then "B. violacea" is placed in "B." subg. "Spathulatae".cite journal | author = Mast, Austin R. and Kevin Thiele | year = 2007 | title = The transfer of "Dryandra" R.Br. to "Banksia" L.f. (Proteaceae) | journal = Australian Systematic Botany | volume = 20 | pages = 63–71 | doi = 10.1071/SB06016]Distribution and habitat
"B. violacea" occurs in southern regions of Western Australia, from Woodanilling to Esperance and as far north as Hyden.The Banksia Atlas] This distribution includes areas of the
Avon Wheatbelt ,Esperance Plains and Mallee biogeographic regions.FloraBase | name = "Banksia violacea" C.A.Gardner | id = 1856] It favours whitesand y soils, often overlyinglaterite ,clay orquartzite . It usually grows amongst proteaceous-myrtaceous heath andshrublands .Ecology
Like most other
Proteaceae , "B. violaceae" hasproteoid root s, roots with dense clusters of short lateral rootlets that form a mat in the soil just below the leaf litter. These enhance solubilisation of nutrients, thus allowing nutrient uptake in low-nutrient soils such as thephosphorus -deficient native soils of Australia.It is one of a small number of "Banksia" species that has both
lignotuber ous and non-lignotuberous populations. In both cases, plants are adapted to release their aerial bank of seeds following a bushfire, ensuring seedlings are established on clear and relatively fertile ground; however the possession of a lignotuber makes plants much less reliant on fire regime for population maintenance and regeneration, as maternal plants are not killed by bushfire, but resprout from below ground level. Lignotuberous plants generally occur amongst the north-eastern populations;The Banksia Book] an investigation into the biogeography of these plants failed to find any vegetative, climatic or other environmental factors associated with the possession of a lignotuber.cite journal | author = Lamont, Byron and Adrienne Markey | year = 1995 | title = Biogeography of fire-killed and resprouting "Banksia" species in south-western Australia | journal =Australian Journal of Botany | volume = 43 | issue = 3 | pages = 283–303 | doi = 10.1071/BT9950283]Cultivation
"B. violacea" is rarely cultivated. It is a slow-growing plant that tends to become untidy with age, and probably does not flower until four to five years from seed. Flowers are an unusual colour, but occur within the bush where they are usually obscured by foliage. It tolerates light pruning not below the green foliage, except for the variant with a lignotuber, which may be pruned heavily. George recommends a sunny position in light, sandy soil.The Banksia Book]
References
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