Collectively and individually, members of the genus Banksia are among the world’s more spectacular and surprising flowering plants.
If one accepts the reclassification that brought the 94 Dryandra species into the Banksia fold, the genus has circa 170 members; if one does not, there are 79 named Banksia species.
Either way, all but one species are endemic to Australia.
The overwhelming majority naturally occur only in Western Australia, and most of those have very small ranges, in near-coastal parts of WA’s southwest.
Even by Banksia standards, the six prostratae species are “wondrous strange”.
Prostrate banksias hug the ground; their flower spikes emerge through the sand, then enlarge, and sit thereon.
All six species are endemic to southwest WA, and all but one naturally occur only in selected, sandy locations within 120 kilometres of the Southern Ocean.
Initially, I thought that the individual pictured below and the one in the featured image (atop this post) must be two different species.
(by road, their locations are more than 200 kilometres apart. However, as a black cockatoo could fly – in a straight line – it would be around 100 ks. The featured image was taken in September 2017, near Point Anne, within the western third of Fitzgerald River National Park. Point Ann is a prime spot for whale watching, from terra firma. Nearby is the southwestern end of the fabled, so-called “rabbitproof fence”. All other photos were taken a little outside the National Park’s eastern boundary, but still within the Fitzgerald River Biosphere)
The various Banksia species offer a highly diverse range of sizes, shapes, colours and general appearance.
Even more astonishing is the amount of variation that can exist within a single species…and within a single individual.
At the very same moment, one bush’s/tree’s various “flower spikes” may be at hugely different stages of their development.
Over time, the appearance of any one spike ranges from “petite, exquisite”, to “very big indeed, but still exquisitely symmetrical, and beautifully coloured”, through to “very untidy”, “misshapen”, “drab”.
And, even flower spikes of the same species – and all of a similar stage/age – can be far from uniform in colour or shape.
The same can be true of leaves.
Accordingly, I am not at all sure whether this post features two different species, or just the one.
Three prostrate Banksia species grow within the Fitzgerald Biosphere.
I am almost sure – from the leaves – that none of this post’s photos feature Banksia petiolaris.
It is possible (but unlikely, I think) that the pinkish flower spike (in the photo immediately above this paragraph) is Banksia blechnifolia.
I am very nearly certain that all other photos show a close relative: Banksia repens, commonly known as “creeping banksia”.
Each “cotton bud” on a Banksia flower spike is an individual flower.
Both spikes pictured below are “fruits” of the same individual. (I think)
The “grand sands” series’ next two posts will, respectively, look east/down and west/down from the easternmost peak of Fitzgerald River National Park’s hills (mountains”, by Australian standards) which are misleadingly, collectively, known as The Barrens.
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