''Banksia fuscobractea'', commonly known as the dark-bract banksia, is a species of shrub that is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to a small area in the south-west of Western Australia. It has prickly, serrated, wedge-shaped leaves, pale yellow and cream-coloured flowers in heads of up to almost two hundred, and three or four egg-shaped follicles in each head.

Description

''Banksia fuscobractea'' is an erect shrub that typically grows to a height of and has stems covered in thick, matted hairs, but does not form a

lignotuber A lignotuber is a woody swelling of the root crown possessed by some plants as a protection against destruction of the plant stem, such as by fire. Other woody plants may develop basal burls as a similar survival strategy, often as a respons ...

. Its leaves are wedge-shaped in outline, long and wide on a petiole long, with between four and nine sharply-pointed serrations on each side. The flowers are borne on a head containing between 180 and 190 flowers. There are linear

involucral bracts In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves in size, color, shape or texture. They also look ...

long at the base of the head. The flowers have a pale yellow

perianth The perianth (perigonium, perigon or perigone in monocots) is the non-reproductive part of the flower. It is a structure that forms an envelope surrounding the sexual organs, consisting of the calyx (sepals) and the corolla (petals) or tepal ...

long and a cream-coloured

pistil Gynoecium (; ; : gynoecia) is most commonly used as a collective term for the parts of a flower that produce ovules and ultimately develop into the fruit and seeds. The gynoecium is the innermost whorl (botany), whorl of a flower; it consists ...

long. Flowering occurs from July to October and the fruit is an egg-shaped, loosely-hairy follicle long. Each head has only three or four follicles.

Taxonomy and naming

This banksia was first formally described in 1996 by Alex George in the journal '' Nuytsia'' and given the name ''Dryandra fuscobractea'' from specimens collected in 1986 by

Margaret Pieroni Margaret Pieroni (born 1936) is a Western Australian botanical artist, photographer and botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Pl ...

near Gillingarra. In 2007,

Austin Mast Austin R. Mast is a research botanist. Born in 1972, he obtained a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2000. He is currently a professor within the Department of Biological Science at Florida State University (FSU), and has been ...

and

Kevin Thiele Kevin R. Thiele is currently an adjunct associate professor at the University of Western Australia and the director of Taxonomy Australia. He was the curator of the Western Australian Herbarium from 2006 to 2015. His research interests include ...

transferred all the dryandras to the genus ''

Banksia ''Banksia'' is a genus of around 170 species of flowering plants in the family Proteaceae. These Australian wildflowers and popular garden plants are easily recognised by their characteristic flower spikes, and woody fruiting "cones" and head ...

'' and this species became ''Banksia fuscobractea''. The

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

(''fuscobractea'') is derived from Latin words meaning "dark" and "a bract", referring to the dark coloured involucral bracts.

Distribution and habitat

The dark-bract banksia grows in low

kwongan Kwongan is a plant community found in south-western Western Australia. The name is a Bibulman Aboriginal term of wide geographical use defined by Beard (1976) as Kwongan has replaced other terms applied by European botanists such as sand-h ...

near Gillingarra. In 2008, the population was estimated to have only about 55 mature plants.

Conservation status

''Banksia fuscobractea'' is classified as "critically endangered" under the Australian Government ''

Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 The ''Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999'' (Cth) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia that provides a framework for protection of the Australian environment, including its biodiversity and its natural and cult ...

'' and as " Threatened Flora (Declared Rare Flora — Extant)" by the

Department of Environment and Conservation (Western Australia) The Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) was a department of the Government of Western Australia that was responsible for implementing the state's conservation and environment legislation and regulations. It was formed on 1 July 2006 ...

and an Interim Recovery Plan has been prepared. The main threats to the species include road, firebreak and fence maintenance, gravel extraction, weed invasion and farming activities.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4856611 fuscobractea Endemic flora of Western Australia Plants described in 1996 Taxa named by Alex George Taxa named by Kevin Thiele