''Banksia grandis'', commonly known as bull banksia or giant banksia, is a species of common and distinctive tree in the south-west of

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. The

Noongar The Noongar (, also spelt Noongah, Nyungar , Nyoongar, Nyoongah, Nyungah, Nyugah, and Yunga ) are Aboriginal Australian people who live in the South West, Western Australia, south-west corner of Western Australia, from Geraldton, Western Aus ...

peoples know the tree as beera, biara, boongura, gwangia, pira or peera. It has a fire-resistant main stem with thick bark,

pinnatisect The following terms are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (that is, the leaf blade or 'lamina' is undivided) or compound (that is, the leaf blade is divided into two or more leaflets ...

leaves with triangular side-lobes, pale yellow flowers and elliptical follicles in a large cone.

Description

''Banksia grandis'' is usually a tree that typically grows to a height of high, sometimes to . It is also found in the form of a stunted, spreading shrub near the south coast, and whenever it occurs among granite rocks. Its trunks are short, stout and often crooked, with the rough grey bark characteristic of ''Banksia''. The leaves are pinnatisect long and wide on a petiole long, with between eight and twelve large triangular lobes on each side of the leaf. The leaves are shiny dark green on the upper surface and softy-hairy underneath. The flowers are borne in a spike that is long and wide at flowering time with hairy

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 ...

up to long at the base of the head. The flowers are pale yellow with cream-coloured styles, the

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 the

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 October to January and the follicles are elliptical, long, high and wide on a massive cone. The old flower fall early and the follicles usually open as they mature. A seed from the south coast raised in Kings Park had retained its spreading habit as at 1981.

Taxonomy and naming

''Banksia grandis'' was first formally described in 1798 by

Carl Ludwig Willdenow Carl Ludwig Willdenow (22 August 1765 – 10 July 1812) was a German botanist, pharmacist, and plant Taxonomy (biology), taxonomist. He is considered one of the founders of phytogeography, the study of the geographic distribution of plants. ...

in the fourth edition of the book ''

Species Plantarum ' (Latin for "The Species of Plants") is a book by Carl Linnaeus, originally published in 1753, which lists every species of plant known at the time, classified into genus, genera. It is the first work to consistently apply binomial nomenclature ...

''. 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 ...

''grandis'' is a Latin word meaning 'great', 'large' or 'tall'. In 1891,

Otto Kuntze Carl Ernst Otto Kuntze (23 June 1843 – 27 January 1907) was a German botanist. Biography Otto Kuntze was born in Leipzig. An apothecary in his early career, he published an essay entitled ''Pocket Fauna of Leipzig''. Between 1863 and 1866, he ...

, in his '' Revisio Generum Plantarum'', rejected the generic name ''Banksia'' L.f., on the grounds that the name ''Banksia'' had previously been published in 1776 as ''Banksia'' J.R.Forst & G.Forst, referring to the genus now known as '' Pimelea''. Kuntze proposed ''Sirmuellera'' as an alternative, referring to this species as ''Sirmuellera grandis''. This application of the

principle of priority Priority is a principle in Taxonomy (biology), biological taxonomy by which a valid scientific name is established based on the oldest available name. It is a decisive rule in Botanical nomenclature, botanical and zoological nomenclature to recogn ...

was largely ignored by Kuntze's contemporaries, and ''Banksia'' L.f. was formally conserved and ''Sirmuellera'' rejected in 1940. ''Banksia grandis'' is a member of ''Banksia'' series ''Grandes'', a series containing only ''B. grandis'' and the closely related species '' B. solandri''.

Distribution

Bull banksia grows in woodland and heath on the coastal plain between

Mount Lesueur Mount Lesueur is a near-circular, flat-topped mesa located from Jurien Bay in Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to t ...

and

Cape Leeuwin Cape Leeuwin is the most south-westerly (but not most southerly) mainland point of the Australian continent, in the state of Western Australia. Description A few small islands and rocks, the St Alouarn Islands, extend further in Flinders ...

, east to Cape Riche and inland to Woodanilling. It is common in the jarrah forest on the

Darling Range The Darling Scarp (), also referred to as the Darling Range or Darling Ranges, is a low escarpment running north–south to the east of the Swan Coastal Plain and Perth, Western Australia. The escarpment extends generally north of Bindoon, West ...

Ecology

Species of nectarivorous birds that have been observed feeding on ''B. grandis'' include '' Anthochaera carunculata'' (red wattlebird). '' Purpureicephalus spurius'' (red-capped parrot) has also been recorded feeding upon the seed, as have black cockatoos, though it is not clear which species of black cockatoo was observed, '' Zanda baudinii'' (Baudin's black cockatoo) or '' Z. latirostris'' (Carnaby's black cockatoo).

Uses

Use in horticulture

Bull banksia is not often cultivated and is slow-growing, taking ten years or more to flower from seed. It is very sensitive to dieback and is difficult to grow in regions of summer humidity. It requires a well-drained sandy soil. Seeds do not require any treatment, and take 22 to 42 days to germinate.

Use by Indigenous people

The flowers of ''Banksia grandis'' were known as ''mangyt'', ''pulgarla'' or ''Bool gal la'' by the

Indigenous peoples There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

who live within its range. The flowers were steeped in water or sucked to obtain nectar.The Perth Gazette ''Vocabulary of Aboriginal Language of Western Australia'' 31 August 1839 author:Lieutenant Grey, HM 83 regiment

References

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q2700663 grandis Trees of Australia Eudicots of Western Australia Endemic flora of Southwest Australia Plants described in 1798