Banksia sect. Eubanksia

"Banksia" sect. "Eubanksia" is an obsolete section of "Banksia". There have been two circumscriptions, one of which is synonymous with the recently abandoned "B." subg. "Banksia" "sensu" Alex George, the other having no modern equivalent.

The name "Eubanksia" was first published without rank by Stephan Endlicher in 1847.cite book | first = Stephan | last = Endlicher | authorlink = Stephan Endlicher | year = 1847 | title = Genera Plantarum Secundum Ordines Naturales Disposita Supplement 4 | pages = [http://www.botanicus.org/page/503709 88] ] He published it as a replacement name for Robert Brown's "Banksia verae", the "true banksias". In Brown's taxonomic arrangement of "Banksia", "Banksia verae" was defined as comprising all species with a typical "Banksia" flower spike, and thus contained all known species except "B. ilicifolia" (Holly-leaved Banksia), which was unusual in having domed flower heads.cite book | first = Robert | last = Brown | authorlink = Robert Brown (botanist) | year = 1810 | title = Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen | publisher = Taylor | location = London] cite book | first = Robert | last = Brown | authorlink = Robert Brown (botanist) | year = 1830 | title = Supplementum Primum Prodromi Florae Novae Hollandiae | publisher = Taylor | location = London] Brown's circumscription of "Banksia verae" was retained for "Eubanksia" by Endlicher, and again by Carl Meissner, who gave "Eubanksia" sectional rank in his 1856 arrangement. Meissner divided "B." sect. "Eubanksia" into four series, on the basis of leaf characters: "B." ser. "Abietinae", "B." ser. "Salicinae", "B." ser. "Quercinae" and "B." ser. "Dryandroideae".cite encyclopedia | first = Carl | last = Meissner | authorlink = Carl Meissner | year = 1856 | chapter = Proteaceae | editor = de Candolle, A. P. | encyclopedia = Prodromus systematis naturalis regni vegetabilis | volume = 14 | location = Paris | publisher = Sumptibus Sociorum Treuttel et Wurtz]

George Bentham published a new arrangement of "Banksia" in 1870, dividing "Banksia" into five sections. He appropriated "B." sect. "Eubanksia" for a section containing only "B. marginata" (Silver Banksia), "B. dentata" (Tropical Banksia) and "B. integrifolia" (Coast Banksia), claiming that "the three species here included… are so closely allied and so frequently connected by intermediates, that they might almost be considered as varieties of a single one." Thus Bentham's circumscription was completely unrelated to that of Brown, Endlicher and Meissner.cite encyclopedia | first = George | last = Bentham | authorlink = George Bentham | year = 1870 | title = Banksia | encyclopedia = Flora Australiensis | volume = 5: Myoporineae to Proteaceae | pages = 541–562 | location = London | publisher = L. Reeve & Co.]

"B." sect. "Eubanksia" fell into disuse in 1981, when Alex George published his arrangement in "The genus Banksia L.f. (Proteaceae)". He reverted to the circumscription of Brown, Endlicher and Meissner, but by this time the rules of botanical nomenclature had been formalised in such a way that Brown's "Banksia verae" had to be given the autonym "B." subg. "Banksia"; thus Endlicher's unranked "Eubanksia" and Meissner's section "Eubanksia" are now considered nomenclatural synonyms of "B." subg. "Banksia" "sensu" George.The genus Banksia L.f. (Proteaceae)] This circumscription was retained in Thiele and Ladiges' 1996 arrangement,cite journal | first = Kevin | last = Thiele | authorlink = Kevin Thiele | coauthors = 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] and in George's 1999 arrangement,cite encyclopedia | last = George | first = A. S. | authorlink = Alex George | year = 1999 | title = Banksia | editor = Wilson, Annette | encyclopedia = Flora of Australia | volume = 17B: Proteaceae 3: Hakea to Dryandra | pages = 175–251 | location = Collingwood, Victoria | publisher = CSIRO Publishing / Australian Biological Resources Study | id = ISBN 0-643-06454-0] but was finally abandoned in 2007 with the publication of "B." subg. "Banksia" sensu Austin Mast and Kevin Thiele.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]

On the other hand, Bentham's circumscription of "B." sect. "Eubanksia" has no modern equivalent. The three species placed in that section by Bentham were all placed by George in "B." ser. "Salicinae", and retained in that series under Thiele and Ladiges' 1996 arrangement. In both arrangements, however, the series contains a number of other species, and Bentham's three species are not considered particularly closely related.

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