''Banksia plumosa'' 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 hairy stems, broadly linear

pinnatifid Pinnation (also called pennation) is the arrangement of feather-like or multi-divided features arising from both sides of a common axis. Pinnation occurs in biological morphology, in crystals, such as some forms of ice or metal crystals, and in ...

to pinnatipartite leaves with triangular lobes, creamy-yellow flowers in heads of up to eighty, and egg-shaped follicles.

Description

''Banksia plumosa'' is a shrub that typically grows to a height of and has hairy stems 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 ...

. It has broadly linear, pinnatifid to pinnatipartite leaves 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, with between twenty-five and forty triangular lobes on each side. Between forty-five and eighty creamy-yellow flowers are borne in often clustered heads with hairy, 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 ...

up to long at the base of each head. 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 ...

is 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 and curved downwards. Flowering occurs from January to December, and the follicles are egg-shaped but curved. Only one to three follicles, long and wide form in each head.

Taxonomy and naming

This species was first formally described in 1810 by

Robert Brown Robert Brown may refer to: Robert Brown (born 1965), British Director, Animator and author Entertainers and artists * Washboard Sam or Robert Brown (1910–1966), American musician and singer * Robert W. Brown (1917–2009), American printmaker ...

who gave it the name ''Dryandra plumosa'' and published the description in ''

Transactions of the Linnean Society of London The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature collec ...

'' from material collected near

Lucky Bay Lucky Bay is a bay located at on the south coast of Western Australia, in the Cape Le Grand National Park. Located southeast of Esperance, Western Australia, Esperance, the bay is a tourist spot known for its bright white sands and turquoise ...

. 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 ...

(''plumosa'') is from a Latin word meaning "covered with feathers", referring to the bracts. In 1996, Alex George described two subspecies of ''Dryandra plumosa'' in the journal ''

Nuytsia ''Nuytsia floribunda'' is a hemiparasitic tree found in Western Australia. The species is known locally as moodjar and, more recently, the Christmas tree or Western Australian Christmas tree. The display of intensely bright flowers during the ...

'': * ''Dryandra plumosa'' R.Br. subsp. ''plumosa''; * ''Dryandra plumosa'' subsp. ''denticulata'' A.S.George that differs from 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 ...

in having relatively thin, almost

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 their edges only slightly, rather than prominently turned downwards, and that is only known from the

Stirling Range National Park Stirling Range National Park is a national park in the Great Southern (Western Australia), Great Southern region of Western Australia, approximately south-east of Perth. There is also an eponymous Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality, ...

. 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 dryandras to the genus ''Banksia'' and renamed this species ''Banksia plumosa'' and the subspecies ''plumosa'' and ''denticulata'' respectively. The names of the subspecies 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 ...

Distribution and habitat

''Banksia plumosa'' grows in

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 ...

, often with mallee eucalypts, between

West Mount Barren West Mount Barren is part of the Fitzgerald River National Park located between Bremer Bay and Hopetoun on the south coast of Western Australia. The coordinates of the summit of West Mount Barren are . West Mount Barren, along with East Mount B ...

, Lucky Bay and inland to Chillinup in the

Esperance Plains Esperance Plains, also known as Eyre Botanical District, is a biogeography, biogeographic region in southern Western Australia on the South_coast_of_Western_Australia , south coast between the Avon Wheatbelt and Hampton bioregions, and bordere ...

biogeographic region An ecoregion (ecological region) is an ecological and geographic area that exists on multiple different levels, defined by type, quality, and quantity of environmental resources. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and con ...

Ecology

An assessment of the potential impact of

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

on this species found that its range is likely to contract by between 30% and 80% by 2080, depending on the severity of the change.

Conservation status

''Banksia plumosa'' and ''B. plumosa'' subsp. ''plumosa'' are listed 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. ''denticulata'' is listed as " Priority Four" meaning that is rare or near threatened.

References

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q4856670 plumosa Plants described in 1810 Taxa named by Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773)