Banksia columnaris facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Banksia columnaris |
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| Banksia columnaris at Dryandra Woodland, Western Australia | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Banksia
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| Species: |
columnaris
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Banksia columnaris is a special kind of shrub that looks a bit like a column. It only grows in Western Australia, which means it's endemic there. This plant has unique leaves that are deeply cut, almost like feathers, with many small sections on each side. Its flowers can be pale yellow or even purple, and they grow in clusters. After flowering, you'll usually find just one or two seed pods, called follicles, in each flower cluster.
What it Looks Like
Banksia columnaris is a shrub that usually grows up to 2 m (6 ft 7 in) (about 6.5 feet) tall. Unlike some other plants, it doesn't have a special woody swelling underground called a lignotuber, which helps plants regrow after a fire.
Its leaves are long and narrow, measuring between 50 mm (2.0 in) and 150 mm (5.9 in) (2 to 6 inches) in length, and 3 mm (0.12 in) to 15 mm (0.59 in) (0.1 to 0.6 inches) wide. These leaves are pinnatifid, meaning they are deeply divided into many small, curved, triangular sections, like the parts of a feather. Each side of a leaf can have anywhere from five to eighteen of these small sections, up to 8 mm (0.31 in) long. The leaves grow on a stalk called a petiole, which can be up to 40 mm (1.6 in) long and feels woolly or hairy.
The flowers grow in clusters, called heads, which sit directly on the stem without a stalk (this is called sessile). These flower heads are surrounded by leaves and have special tapering, hairy, linear leaves called involucral bracts at their base, up to 20 mm (0.79 in) long.
Each flower head contains between 25 and 35 individual flowers. Each flower has a curved, pale yellow to purple outer part called a perianth, which is 11 mm (0.43 in) to 14 mm (0.55 in) long. It also has a reddish-brown pistil, which is the part of the flower that receives pollen, measuring 13 mm (0.51 in) to 20 mm (0.79 in) long.
Banksia columnaris usually flowers from May to June. After the flowers bloom, one or two broadly egg-shaped or wedge-shaped seed pods, called follicles, form in each head. These follicles are about 10 mm (0.39 in) to 12 mm (0.47 in) long.
How it Got its Name
This banksia was first officially described in 1996 by a scientist named Alex George. He gave it the name Dryandra columnaris. He found the first samples of this plant in 1969 in the Boyagin Nature Reserve, near a town called Brookton.
Later, in 2007, two other scientists, Austin Mast and Kevin Thiele, decided to move all the plants from the Dryandra group into the Banksia group. So, Dryandra columnaris became Banksia columnaris.
The second part of its name, columnaris, comes from a Latin word that means "column-like." This name was chosen because of the plant's tall, narrow, column-like shape.
Where it Lives
Banksia columnaris grows in a few specific areas between Brookton and Narrogin in Western Australia. It likes to live in low woodlands and areas of kwongan, which is a type of shrubland found in Australia. These areas are part of the Avon Wheatbelt and Jarrah Forest biogeographic regions, which are large areas with similar plants, animals, and climate.
