Silver wongan dryandra facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Silver wongan dryandra |
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| Banksia bella in Kings Park Botanic Garden | |
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Banksia
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| Species: |
bella
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The Banksia bella, also known as the Wongan dryandra, is a type of thick shrub. It grows only in a small part of Western Australia. This plant has long, narrow leaves with jagged edges. The underside of its leaves is covered with soft white hairs. It produces bright yellow flowers and a few seed pods, called follicles, after flowering.
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What the Wongan Dryandra Looks Like
The Wongan dryandra is a bushy, spreading shrub. It usually grows to be about 1.5 to 2 meters (5 to 6.5 feet) tall. Unlike some plants, it does not have a special woody base called a lignotuber that helps it regrow after fires.
When the stems are young, they are hairy. But as they get older, they become smooth (which means glabrous). The leaves grow close together on the side branches. They are long and thin, about 60 to 200 millimeters (2.4 to 7.9 inches) long and 3 to 4 millimeters (0.12 to 0.16 inches) wide. The bottom side of the leaves is covered with white hairs.
The leaves are also deeply cut into many small, triangle-shaped parts, about 35 on each side. This type of leaf is called pinnatisect.
Flowers and Fruit
The flowers of the Wongan dryandra grow in groups called heads. These heads sit directly on the stem without a stalk (this is called sessile). Each head has between 30 and 50 yellowish flowers. Each flower has a special outer part called a perianth, which is about 24 millimeters (0.94 inches) long.
The Wongan dryandra usually flowers in October. After flowering, it produces fruit. The fruit is a round or broadly egg-shaped seed pod, called a follicle, about 6 to 8 millimeters (0.24 to 0.31 inches) long. Usually, there are only one or two of these seed pods in each flower head.
How it Got its Name
The Wongan dryandra was first officially described in 1856 by a scientist named Carl Meissner. He named it Dryandra pulchella. This name was published in a science journal called Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis.
Later, in 2007, two other scientists, Austin Mast and Kevin Thiele, decided to move all the Dryandra plants into the Banksia group. But there was already a plant called Banksia pulchella. So, Mast and Thiele chose a new specific name for this plant: "bella."
The word pulchella comes from a Latin word meaning "beautiful little." The word bella also comes from a Latin word, and it means "beautiful." So, both names highlight the plant's beauty!
Where the Wongan Dryandra Lives
The Wongan dryandra is only found in an area near Wongan Hills in Western Australia. It grows in tall shrublands and low woodlands there. This means it likes places where there are many shrubs and some smaller trees.
See also
In Spanish: Dryandra pulchella para niños
