Banksia or Dryandra? Western Australia

 Hi everyone, I hope you and yours are doing well. 

The last couple of posts I have taken you to the Dryandra Woodland National Park in Western Australia. And I shared there an image of a Dryandra flower. But is it a Dryandra or a Banksia? 

Since about 2007 there has been some discussion about this when the Dryandras were combined with Banksias. Below you can see the stages of the Banksia. They are easily recognised by the candle shape flower spikes and woody seed cones. 

Banksias are among Australia's most iconic plants. they were named after Sir Joseph Banks (1743-1820 ), who, in 1770, was the first European to collect specimens of these plants while on his voyage of discovery with Captain James Cook. Cook mapped the east coast of Australia which paved the way for British settlement 18 years later.

Banksias belong to the plant family Proteaceae. They range from ground hugging plants to 30 metre high trees.

Below here you can see a Candlestick Banksia from bud to cone.

There are 78 known species of banksia, 76 species in Australia, 62 of which are endemic to Western Australia, and 30 of these growing between Esperance and Walpole on our southern coast. In recent years the genus Dryandra has been incorporated into the genus Banksia, so the genus now totals 173 species.

There is however differing views on whether the Dryandras should be classified as Banksias.

The former Dryandra names are listed alongside the corresponding Banksia names, where appropriate. Regardless of this scientific re-classification, species previously classified under Dryandra remain quite distinctive horticulturally and will undoubtedly still be called dryandras in common usage. 

You can read more about this here - Australian Native Plants Society

Dryandras are common in the Dryandra Woodland.

Here are a few we saw on a visit in early June. I will try to identy them for you. But I am not an expert.

This I believe to be Banksia (Dryandra) sphaerocarpa - Fox Banksia. You can see here a new flower and a dry flower head

This is Banksia (Dryandra) sessilis - Parrot Bush - known by the Aboriginal Noongar people as budjan or butual

This is Banksia (Dryandra) nobilis - Golden Dryanda

I am not sure about these three - but I believe from the shape that they are Dryandras

Despte the obvious difference in flower shape between the Dryandras and the Banksias they mostly all have a distinctly banksia shape leaf. However each banksia leaf is different - and I only learnt this year that this is a good way of identifying the type of Banksia by comparing the leaves.

You might also enjoy some of my previous Banksia posts - 

The iconic Australian banksias

Celebration of the Australian Banksia

The Candlestick Banksia - it must be November

No doubt the jury will be out for a while about whether the Dryandras should have been icorporated with the Banksias. 

Below is some more reading from the Australian Native Plant Society - along with two discussion papers of opposing ideas from Alex George and Kevin Thiele.

anpsa.org.au- banksia

anpsa.org.au/dryandra

Another plant that is seen in Dryandra is the yellow, red and gold Poison bush (Gastrolobium). The Poison Bush is a member of the pea family and contains a toxic substance that when synthesised is called '1080'. The poison bush has no effect on native amimals, but 1080 is used in baits to control feral animals such as foxes and feral cats which are a threat to native animals and birds. 

I hope you have enjoyed this post about another of Australia's beautiful wildflowers - the Dryandra.

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