Banksia

Banksia blechnifolia

The banksia ( Banksia ) is a genus of flowering plants within the silver tree plants ( Proteaceae ). The genus name honors the botanist Joseph Banks.

Dissemination

Their occurrence is limited to the Australian continent, including Tasmania, where there exist 80 species. The exception is Banksia dentata, which is found in northern Australia and north of it islands, including New Guinea and the Aru Islands.

Description

Banksia species grow as evergreen shrubs and trees. The alternate to sometimes arranged in whorls something, evergreen leaves are leathery and stalked. The leaf blade is simply divided up deep. You have in most cases a silvery-gray leaf underside and the upper leaf surface is dark green. Some species are heterophyll, so there are different leaves. There are no stipules present.

The inflorescences of the species are composed of hundreds to thousands of individual flowers together, the color varies between yellow and red. The narrow bracts are usually hairy and often fall even during the heyday from. A large bract is always contingent paired standing flowers. The individual flowers are about a cover sheet. The hermaphrodite flowers are cruciform. There are only four more or less equal multiform bloom yet. It is a discus available. It's just a circle with four fertile stamens present; they are among themselves free and all equal to or more or less distinctly different. In each flower is only a constant upper carpel, which is sometimes closed incomplete. It contains two ovules. Pollination is by insects, birds and small marsupials.

The hard, wooden seed heads of many Banksia species open only in extreme heat, such as in a bushfire. The winged seeds fall out and are carried away by the wind. The woody follicles contain one or two seeds. The seeds have two wings.