Brown's taxonomic arrangement of Banksia facts for kids
Robert Brown was a famous botanist who studied plants. In 1810, he published his first big book about how he organized different types of Banksia plants. He added more details in a second book in 1830. This was the first time anyone had properly listed and described many Banksia species. Some of these plants had never been described before!
About Banksias
Banksia is a group of about 175 different plant species. They belong to a plant family called Proteaceae. These plants are well-known Australian wildflowers. People also love to grow them in their gardens. You can easily spot them by their unique flower spikes or round flower heads. They also have interesting fruiting "cones".
Banksias grow in many shapes and sizes. Some are flat, woody shrubs that spread along the ground. Others are tall trees that can reach up to 35 metres high. You can find them almost everywhere in Australia, except for the driest areas.
Banksias produce a lot of nectar. This sweet liquid is an important food source for animals like honeyeater birds and honey possums. These plants are also important for businesses. They are used in plant nurseries and for cut flowers. However, many Banksia species are in danger. They are threatened by things like land clearing, too many bushfires, and diseases. Because of this, some species are now rare or endangered.
Brown's 1810 List
The first Banksia plants were collected in 1770. This happened during Lieutenant James Cook's trip to the Pacific Ocean. The naturalists on his ship, Sir Joseph Banks and Dr Daniel Solander, found them.
By 1810, fewer than 20 Banksia species had been officially described. But Robert Brown himself had collected 26 new species in 1801 and 1802. He thought 13 of these new plants belonged to a completely new group, which he called Dryandra. Today, these are known as B. ser. Dryandra. The rest of the new plants were put into the Banksia group. This allowed Brown to describe a total of 31 Banksia species.
Brown divided the Banksia plants into two main groups. He put the B. ilicifolia plant all by itself in a group called Isostylis. This was because its flowers grew in unusual dome shapes. All the other species were placed in the group called Banksia verae. This name means "true banksias". These plants had the long flower spikes that people expected from Banksia.
Here is how Robert Brown organized the Banksia plants in 1810:
- Banksia
- Banksia verae
- B. pulchella
- B. sphærocarpa
- B. nutans
- B. ericifolia
- B. spinulosa
- B. collina (now B. spinulosa var. collina)
- B. occidentalis
- B. littoralis
- B. marginata
- B. depressa (now B. marginata)
- B. patula (now B. marginata)
- B. australis (now B. marginata)
- B. insularis (now B. marginata)
- B. integrifolia
- B. compar (now B. integrifolia subsp. compar)
- B. verticillata
- B. coccinea
- B. paludosa
- B. oblongifolia
- B. latifolia (now B. robur)
- B. marcescens (now B. praemorsa)
- B. attenuata
- B. elatior (now B. aemula)
- B. serrata
- B. æmula
- B. dentata
- B. quercifolia
- B. speciosa
- B. grandis
- B. repens
- Isostylis
- Banksia verae
Brown's 1830 List
Robert Brown published a second version of his book in 1821. No new Banksia species had been found since his first book, so the list was the same. However, between 1823 and 1829, many new species were collected. Most of these had not been officially described yet.
In 1830, Brown released a special addition to his book called the Supplementum. In this, he described eleven more Banksia species. Nine of these had never been described before. He didn't create a whole new list. Instead, he showed where each new plant should fit into his 1810 list.
Here is a summary of Brown's 1830 list, showing the new additions:
- Banksia
- Banksia verae
- B. pulchella
- B. sphærocarpa
- B. nutans
- B. ericifolia
- B. spinulosa
- B. Cunninghamii (now B. spinulosa var. cunninghamii)
- B. collina (now B. spinulosa var. collina)
- B. occidentalis
- B. littoralis
- B. marginata
- B. depressa (now B. marginata)
- B. patula (now B. marginata)
- B. australis (now B. marginata)
- B. insularis (now B. marginata)
- B. integrifolia
- B. compar (now B. integrifolia subsp. compar)
- B. verticillata
- B. coccinea
- B. paludosa
- B. oblongifolia
- B. latifolia (now B. robur)
- B. marcescens (now B. praemorsa)
- B. media
- B. attenuata
- B. Caleyi
- B. Baueri
- B. Menziesii
- B. elatior (now B. aemula)
- B. serrata
- B. æmula
- B. dentata
- B. quercifolia
- B. speciosa
- B. Solandri
- B. grandis
- B. Baxteri
- B. Goodii
- B. prostrata (now B. gardneri)
- B. repens
- B. Dryandroides
- B. Brownii
- B. subg. Isostylis
- Banksia verae
What Happened Next
Brown's group Banksia verae was later renamed Eubanksia in 1847 by another botanist, Stephan Endlicher. Eventually, a new way of organizing Banksia plants was created by Carl Meissner in 1856. This new system replaced Brown's original one.
Meissner kept the Eubanksia and Isostylis groups. He gave them a rank called "sectional rank". Later, a botanist named Alex George moved them up to "subgenus rank". Today, Eubanksia is known as B. subg. Banksia.
More recent studies, using a method called cladistics (which looks at how living things are related, like a family tree), have shown that Brown's arrangement wasn't always perfect. For example, the Dryandra group, which Brown thought was separate, actually grew from within the Banksia group. Also, B. ilicifolia (the holly-leaved banksia) is a more recently developed species. Brown had placed it at the very beginning of the Banksia family tree. In some cases, Brown's order of species was correct. But in others, it was very wrong. For example, B. brownii and B. nutans are actually closely related, but Brown placed them very far apart in his list.
