''Banksia laevigata'', commonly known as the tennis ball 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 Western Australia. It has serrated, broadly linear to narrow wedge-shaped leaves, yellow or yellowish green flowers, depending on subspecies, and linear to elliptic follicles with a slightly wrinkled surface.

Description

''Banksia laevigata'' is a shrub that typically grows to a height of and has roughly flaky, grey bark 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 ...

. The leaves are serrated, broadly linear to narrow wedge-shaped, long and wide on a

petiole Petiole may refer to: *Petiole (botany), the stalk of a leaf, attaching the blade to the stem *Petiole (insect anatomy) In entomology, petiole is the technical term for the narrow waist of some hymenopteran insects, especially ants, bees, and ...

long. Both surface of young leaves are hairy but become

glabrous Glabrousness () is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes, or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part of a plant or animal, or be due to loss because of a physical condition, ...

with age. The flowers are borne in spherical heads wide, usually on the ends of short side branches. The flowers are yellow or yellowish green and have a

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 curved

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 September to December or from January to February and the follicles are linear to elliptical, long, high and wide. Each head contains up to 100 follicles surrounded by the remains of the flowers.

Taxonomy and naming

''Banksia laevigata'' was first formally described in 1856 by

Carl Meissner Carl Daniel Friedrich Meissner (1 November 1800 – 2 May 1874) was a Swiss botanist. Biography Born in Bern, Switzerland on 1 November 1800, he was christened Meisner but later changed the spelling of his name to Meissner. For most of his 40 ...

in de Candolle's '' Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis'' from specimens collected by James Drummond in the

Swan River Colony The Swan River Colony, also known as the Swan River Settlement, or just ''Swan River'', was a British colony established in 1829 on the Swan River, in Western Australia. This initial settlement place on the Swan River was soon named Perth, an ...

. 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 ...

(''laevigata'') is a Latin word meaning "smooth and polished". 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 ''Revisio Generum Plantarum'', also known by its standard botanical abbreviation ''Revis. Gen. Pl.'', is a botanic treatise by Otto Kuntze. It was published in three volumes; the first two of these appeared in 1891, and the third was published in ...

'', 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 ''Pimelea'', commonly known as rice flowers, is a genus of plants belonging to the family Thymelaeaceae. There are about 150 species, including 110 in Australia and 36 in New Zealand. Description Plants in the genus ''Pimelea'' are her ...

''. Kuntze proposed ''Sirmuellera'' as an alternative, referring to this species as ''Sirmuellera laevigata''. 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. In 1965, Alex George described two subspecies in ''

The Western Australian Naturalist ''The Western Australian Naturalist'' (also known as ''The Naturalist''), is the peer-reviewed scientific journal of the Western Australian Naturalists' Club. It publishes original research on topics related to the natural history of Western Au ...

'' and the names are accepted by the

Australian Plant Census The Australian Plant Census (APC) provides an online interface to currently accepted, published, scientific names of the vascular flora of Australia, as one of the output interfaces of the national government Integrated Biodiversity Information Sys ...

: * ''Banksia laevigata'' subsp. ''fuscolutea'' that bright yellow perianth with rusty hairs; * ''Banksia laevigata'' subsp. ''laevigata'' that has a creamy grey perianth with grey hairs.

Distribution and habitat

Subspecies ''fuscolutea'' is more widespread than the

autonym Autonym may refer to: * Autonym, the name used by a person to refer to themselves or their language; see Exonym and endonym * Autonym (botany), an automatically created infrageneric or infraspecific name See also * Nominotypical subspecies, in zo ...

and grows in shrubland between Lake Barker, Hyden and Mount Day near

Norseman The Norsemen (or Northmen) were a cultural group in the Early Middle Ages, originating among speakers of Old Norse in Scandinavia. During the late eighth century, Scandinavians embarked on a large-scale expansion in all directions, giving ris ...

. Subspecies ''laevigata'' is found in the Ravensthorpe Range and along the Fitzgerald River where it grows in woodland and shrubland.

Conservation status

Subspecies ''fuscolutea'' is classified as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government

Department of Parks and Wildlife The Department of Parks and Wildlife (DPaW) was the department of the Government of Western Australia responsible for managing lands described in the ''Conservation and Land Management Act 1984'' and implementing the state's conservation and en ...

, but subsp. ''laevigata'' is classified as " Priority Four" is classified as " Priority Four" by the Government of Western Australia

, meaning that is rare or near threatened.

Use in horticulture

Seeds do not require any treatment, and take 39 to 92 days to

germinate Germination is the process by which an organism grows from a seed or spore. The term is applied to the sprouting of a seedling from a seed of an flowering plant, angiosperm or gymnosperm, the growth of a sporeling from a spore, such as the sp ...

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Banksia laevigata laevigata Eudicots of Western Australia Plants described in 1856 Taxa named by Carl Meissner