Banksia micrantha

taxobox
name = Banksia micrantha
regnum = Plantae
unranked_divisio = Angiosperms
unranked_classis = Eudicots
ordo = Proteales
familia = Proteaceae
genus = "Banksia"
species = "B. micrantha"
binomial = "Banksia micrantha"
binomial_authority = A.S.George|

"Banksia micrantha" is a species of shrub in the plant genus "Banksia". A small spreading bush with pale yellow flower spikes, it occurs between Eneabba and Cervantes in South west Western Australia. First described by Alex George in 1981, it is placed in "Banksia" section "Oncostylis", series "Abietinae".

Description

"B. micrantha"grows as a spreading bushy shrub up to 60 centimetres high and 120 centimetres wide. Leaves are very thin, being one to three centimetres long but less than 1.5 millimetres wide, with tightly revolute margins. Flowers occur in "Banksia"'s characteristic "flower spike", an inflorescence made up of hundreds of pairs of flowers densely packed in a spiral round a woody axis. "B. micrantha"

's flower spike is a pale yellow colour, roughly spherical, around 4 centimetres in diameter. The fruiting structure is a stout woody "cone" embedded with up to 25 follicles, which open to release the seed after bushfire.The genus Banksia L.f. (Proteaceae)] cite encyclopedia | author = George, Alex Segger | year = 1999 | title = Banksia | editor = Wilson, Annette | encyclopedia = Flora of Australia | volume = Volume 17B: Proteaceae 3: Hakea to Dryandra | pages = 175–251 | publisher = CSIRO Publishing / Australian Biological Resources Study | id = ISBN 0-643-06454-0]

Taxonomy

First described by Alex George in his classic monograph "The genus Banksia L.f. (Proteaceae)", "B. micrantha" is placed in "Banksia" subgenus "Banksia" because its inflorescence is a characteristic "Banksia" flower spike; section "Oncostylis" because its flowers have hooked styles; and series "Abietinae" because of its roughly spherical flower spike. Its closest relative is said to "B. sphaerocarpa" (Fox Banksia). A 1996 cladistic analysis of "Banksia" by Kevin Thiele and Pauline Ladiges confirmed "B. micrantha"

's placement in series "Abietinae" alongside "B. sphaerocarpa", finding "B. micrantha" to be more closely related to "B. sphaerocarpa" var. "sphaerocarpa" and "B. sphaerocarpa" var. "caesia" than is "B. sphaerocarpa" var. "dolichostyla". As a result, this last variety was upgraded to species rank as "B. dolichostyla", and the four taxa were placed with "B. grossa" in a new subseries of "Abietinae", "Banksia subser. Sphaerocarpae".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] However, these changes were not accepted by Alex George in his authoritative 1999 contribution to the "Flora of Australia" series.

Distribution and habitat

"B. micrantha" occurs amongst heath on sand or sand over laterite on the gentle slopes of lateritic hills between Eneabba and Cervantes in Western Australia.The Banksia Atlas] It has been declared as "Priority Three - Poorly Known Taxa" under the Wildlife Conservation Act 1950, indicating that it is in need of further survey.cite web | title = Banksia micrantha | work = FloraBase | url = http://florabase.calm.wa.gov.au/browse/flora?f=090&level=s&id=1835 | publisher = Western Australian Herbarium | accessdate = 2006-09-10]

References

External links

*Flora of Australia Online|name=Banksia micrantha|id=3481
*FloraBase|name=Banksia micrantha|id=1835