Dryandra ser. Capitellatae facts for kids

Dryandra ser. Capitellatae was a name for a small group of plants that are now part of the larger Banksia family. This name was created by a scientist named Alex George in 1996. However, in 2007, other scientists, Austin Mast and Kevin Thiele, decided that all Dryandra plants should actually be included within the Banksia group. Because of this change, the old name Dryandra ser. Capitellatae is no longer used by scientists today.

How it was Named

In 1996, Alex George published his work where he officially named this plant group. He called it Capitellatae because of the plants' small flower heads. The name comes from the Latin word capitulum, which means "head," and -ella, which means "small." So, it basically means "small-headed."

This group included two specific plant species: D. serratuloides (now called Banksia serratuloides) and D. meganotia (now called Banksia meganotia). D. serratuloides was chosen as the main example for the group. Both of these plants are small shrubs that have a special woody base called a lignotuber. This woody base helps them regrow after things like bushfires. They also have small flower heads, short leaves, and very tiny, oval-shaped seed pods called follicles.

Why the Name Changed

Since 1998, a scientist named Austin Mast has been studying the genetic information (DNA) of plants in the Banksia family. His research showed that the plants previously known as Dryandra actually grew from within the Banksia family tree. This means they weren't a completely separate group as once thought.

Because of this strong evidence from DNA studies, Austin Mast and Kevin Thiele decided in 2007 to combine Dryandra into Banksia. This meant that all the old ways of organizing Dryandra plants, including the D. ser. Capitellatae group, were no longer needed. Scientists now consider these plants to be part of Banksia ser. Dryandra. Mast and Thiele plan to release a full new way of organizing these plants once they finish all their DNA studies.