Banksia splendida

Shaggy Dryandra
Banksia splendida at Tathra National Park, Western Australia
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
Order:	Proteales
Family:	Proteaceae
Genus:	Banksia
Series:	Banksia ser. Dryandra
Species:	B. splendida
Binomial name
Banksia splendida A.R.Mast and K.R.Thiele

Banksia splendida, commonly known as Shaggy Dryandra, is a shrub endemic to Western Australia. It was known as Dryandra speciosa until 2007

Taxonomy

This species was first collected by James Drummond (botanist) in the late 1840s, and sent to England in Supplement 19 to his 5th Collection. The first mention of the species occurred in 1852, when Meissner published "A list of the Proteaceae collected in south-western Australia by Mr. James Drummond" in Hooker's journal of botany and Kew Garden miscellany. This list includes an entry for this specimen under the name "Dryandra speciosa Meisn. MSS.".^[1] Four years later, Meissner formally published this name in his chapter on the Proteaceae in A. P. de Candolle's Prodromus systematis naturalis regni vegetabilis.^[2] No etymology was given for the specific epithet, but it is accepted that it comes from the Latin speciosus ("showy"), and refers to the attractive inflorescences; if so then this is somewhat inappropriate since the flowers tend to be obscured by foliage.^[3]

Meissner initially placed D. speciosa in D. sect. Eudryandra on the grounds that it contained a single seed separator, and erected for it a new series of unstated rank, Meissner's arrangement was overturned by George Bentham in 1870, whose arrangement was based solely on floral characters, and therefore disregarded leaf shape. He retained D. speciosa in D. sect. Eudryandra, but placed it in a new series, B. shuttleworthiana (Bearded Dryandra)) and D. tridentata (now B. tridentata (Yellow Honeypot).^[4]

Bentham's arrangement stood until 1996, when Alex George published a revision of the genus. D. sect. Eudryandra was discarded as invalid, and replaced by the autonym at subgenus rank, D. subg. Dryandra. D. speciosa was retained in this subgenus, and in D. ser. Gymnocephalae, despite the latter having a significantly different circumscription in George's arrangement.^[5]

Since 1998, Austin Mast has been publishing results of ongoing cladistic analyses of DNA sequence data for the subtribe Banksiinae. His analyses have provided compelling evidence of the paraphyly of Banksia with respect to Dryandra.^[6][7][8] Early in 2007, Mast and Kevin Thiele initiated a rearrangement of Banksia by merging Dryandra into it. As there was already a plant named Banksia speciosa (Showy Banksia), Mast and Thiele had to choose a new specific epithet for D. speciosa; their choice, splendida, is from the Latin splendidus ("brilliant"), in reference to the attractive inflorescences. No infrageneric arrangement has been proffered in replacement for the arrangement of George's now set aside. Mast and Thiele have foreshadowed publishing a full arrangement once DNA sampling of Dryandra is complete.^[9]

References

1. ^ Meissner, Carl (1852). "A list of the Proteaceae collected in south-western Australia by Mr. James Drummond". Hooker's journal of botany and Kew Garden miscellany 4: 211. 
2. ^ Meissner, Carl (1856). "XLIV. Dryandra". In de Candolle, A. P.. Prodromus systematis naturalis regni vegetabilis. XIV. Paris: Sumptibus Sociorum Treuttel et Wurtz. pp. 467–481. 
3. ^ Cavanagh, Tony and Margaret Pieroni (2006). The Dryandras. Melbourne: Australian Plants Society (SGAP Victoria); Perth: Wildflower Society of Western Australia. ISBN 1-876473-54-1. 
4. ^ Bentham, George (1870). "Dryandra". Flora Australiensis. Volume 5: Myoporineae to Proteaceae. London: L. Reeve & Co.. pp. 562–584. 
5. ^ George, Alex S. (1996). "New taxa and a new infragenetic classification in Dryandra R.Br. (Proteaceae: Grevilleoideae)". Nuytsia 10 (3): 313–408. 
6. ^ Mast, Austin R. (1998). "Molecular systematics of subtribe Banksiinae (Banksia and Dryandra; Proteaceae) based on cpDNA and nrDNA sequence data: implications for taxonomy and biogeography". Australian Systematic Botany 11 (4): 321–342. doi:10.1071/SB97026. 
7. ^ Mast, Austin R. and Thomas J. Givnish (2002). "Historical biogeography and the origin of stomatal distributions in Banksia and Dryandra (Proteaceae) based on Their cpDNA phylogeny". American Journal of Botany 89 (8): 1311–1323. doi:10.3732/ajb.89.8.1311. ISSN 0002-9122. PMID 21665734. http://www.amjbot.org/cgi/content/full/89/8/1311. Retrieved 2006-07-02. 
8. ^ Mast, Austin R., Eric H. Jones and Shawn P. Havery (2005). "An assessment of old and new DNA sequence evidence for the paraphyly of Banksia with respect to Dryandra (Proteaceae)". Australian Systematic Botany (CSIRO Publishing / Australian Systematic Botany Society) 18 (1): 75–88. doi:10.1071/SB04015. 
9. ^ Mast, Austin R. and Kevin Thiele (2007). "The transfer of Dryandra R.Br. to Banksia L.f. (Proteaceae)". Australian Systematic Botany 20: 63–71. doi:10.1071/SB06016. 

External links

• "Dryandra speciosa Meisn.". Flora of Australia Online. Department of the Environment and Heritage, Australian Government. http://www.anbg.gov.au/abrs/online-resources/flora/stddisplay.xsql?pnid=46535. 
• "Dryandra speciosa Meisn.". FloraBase. Department of Environment and Conservation, Government of Western Australia. http://florabase.dec.wa.gov.au/browse/profile/1935. 
• "Banksia splendida A.R.Mast & K.R.Thiele". Australian Plant Name Index (APNI), IBIS database. Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Government. http://www.anbg.gov.au/cgi-bin/apni?taxon_id=269802.