Banksia audax

taxobox
name = Banksia audax


image_caption = "B. audax",
east of Yellowdyne
regnum = Plantae
unranked_divisio = Angiosperms
unranked_classis = Eudicots
ordo = Proteales
familia = Proteaceae
genus = "Banksia"
species = "B. audax"
binomial = Banksia audax
binomial_authority = C.A.Gardner|

"Banksia audax" is a species of shrub in the plant genus "Banksia". It occurs over a large area in the central south of Western Australia

Description

It is an openly branched lignotuberous shrub around one metre tall, with grey, fizzured bark. Leaves are wedge-shaped, 2–7 centimetres long, 8–22 millimetres wide, with triangular serrations along the margins. Flowers occur in Banksia's characteristic "flower spike", an inflorescence made up of hundreds of pairs of flowers densely packed in a spiral around a woody axis. "B. audax"

's flower spike is golden orange, ovoid, around five centimetres in diameter.

Distribution and habitat

"B. audax" occurs from near the town of Southern Cross, south almost to the coast. It occurs amongst heath and in mallee communities, in sandy yellow loam.

Taxonomy

"B. audax" was first discovered by Charles Gardner in 1926, and published by him in 1928. Gardner gave it the specific name "audax", meaning "bold" in Latin, in recognition of its "boldness" in growing so far inland. It belongs to subgenus "Banksia", section "Banksia", series "Cyrtostylis". It has no close relatives; "B. benthamiana" (Bentham's Banksia) and "B. laevigata" (Tennis Ball Banksia) are taxonomically closest to it, but these are both larger shrubs without lignotubers.

References

*The genus Banksia L.f. (Proteaceae)
*cite encyclopedia | author = George, Alex | year = 1999 | 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 Banksia Atlas

External links

*Flora of Australia Online|name=Banksia audax|id=3438
*FloraBase|name=Banksia audax|id=1801